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Expo 2025

Expo 2025 (2025年日本国際博覧会, Nisennijūgo-nen Nippon Kokusai Hakurankai, and officially 大阪・関西万博 Ōsaka–Kansai Banpaku for short) is a World Expo organised and sanctioned by the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE), which will be held in Osaka, Japan. It will take place for six months during 2025, opening 13 April 2025 and closing 13 October 2025, for a total of 184 days.[1] This will be the second time Osaka hosts a World Expo, having previously hosted Expo 1970. The event will return to its traditional 5-year scheduling cycle after the 2020 edition was delayed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[2] The projected visitor count is approximately 28 million.[1]

Bidding, selection and ratification of Expo city

Ratification

The registration dossier for Japan's expo containing a detailed plan with proposed operational dates (13 April to 13 October 2025) and legacy plans has been submitted to the BIE for review.[3]

Candidates

On 22 November 2016, France submitted to the BIE its candidature to host World Expo 2025.[4] This first submission launched the bidding process for this Expo by opening the candidate list. All other countries wishing to organise World Expo 2025 had until 22 May 2017 to submit their own bids, after which the project examination phase started.

  • Azerbaijan Baku, Azerbaijan – The Azerbaijani capital entered its candidacy before the deadline[5] under the theme "Developing Human Capital, Building a Better Future".
  • Japan Osaka, Japan – Osaka made its official bid for the Expo on 24 April 2017[6] with the theme "Designing Future Society for Our Lives".[7]
  • Russia Yekaterinburg, Russia – The Russian city entered its candidacy on 22 May 2017[8] under the theme "Changing the World: Innovations and Better Life for Future Generations".

Withdrawn candidates

  • France Paris, France – France, which had been the first to declare its candidacy under the theme "Sharing our Knowledge, Caring for our Planet," withdrew its candidacy on 21 January 2018 due to financial concerns and the sucessful bid for the 2024 Summer Olympics.[4][9]

Results

A secret ballot took place to select the winner at BIE's 164th General Assembly on 23 November 2018. The first ballot awarded 85 votes to Osaka, 48 votes to Yekaterinburg and 23 votes to Baku, which meant that Baku was eliminated. The second round ballot resulted in 92 votes for Osaka and 61 for Yekaterinburg.[10][11][12] This makes Expo 2025 the second time that Osaka has hosted a world expo, after Expo '70.[13][14]

Expo 2025 bidding results
City Nation Round 1 Round 2
Osaka  Japan 85 92
Yekaterinburg  Russia 48 61
Baku  Azerbaijan 23 -

Themes

The theme for the expo is "Designing Future Society for Our Lives", with sub-themes of "Saving Lives", "Empowering Lives" and "Connecting Lives".[15] The theme "Saving Lives" includes infant vaccinations, sanitation, lifestyle (diet and exercise) and extending lifespans.[15]

The concept is "People's Living Lab".[16]

Purpose

The Expo 2025 will be held with the aim of achieving a society in which the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), 17 sustainable development goals set out at the United Nations Summit on Sustainable Development held at the UN Headquarters, New York City in September 2015[17], have been achieved. With five years remaining until 2030, the target year for achieving the SDGs, 2025 is an extremely important year for accelerating efforts to achieve them.

Furthermore, it aims to head towards realizing Japan's national strategy: Society 5.0 ("super smart society"), which is a society, after the information society, industrial society, agrarian society, and hunter-gatherer society before it, that brings prosperity to people by making the most of ICT and integrating cyberspace and physical space.[18]

Site

The main site of Expo 2025 is a 155 hectare area (383 acres) located in Yumeshima Island, Konohana-ku, Osaka. The Grand Ring designed the Japanese firms Tohata Architects and Azusa Sekkei, was built and enclosed by three large thematic districts dedicated to the themes of Expo 2025 – Connecting, Empowering, and Saving Lives.[19][20]

The infrastructure of the site was built by Obayashi, Shimizu, and Takenaka Corporation, it was recognized by the Guinness World Records as the world's largest wooden building (certified area: 61,035.55 m2).[21][22]

Marketing

The logo mark based on the concept of "cells" was designed by Team Inari (represented by Shimada Tamotsu) in Osaka and Landor Associates from San Francisco, United States.[23] It was announced on 25 August 2020, it became a hot topic on the Internet, called "The Shine of Life".[24][25]

Mascot

Main article: Myaku-Myaku
Myaku-Myaku appearing at an event in Nagoya in September 2024

Myaku-Myaku (ミャクミャク, Myakumyaku), is the mascot and yuru-chara representing Expo 2025, it was designed by picture book and children's book illustrator Kouhei Yamashita [ja] and named through a public contest by entrants Miyuu Kawakatsu and Hinata Sakuda in early 2022.[26]

After a strict selection process from 33,197 submissions, it was selected on the morning of 18 July 2022 marked the 1,000-day countdown before the opening, and announced at a commemorative event held on the same day.[27] Prime Minister Fumio Kishida explained that the nickname is imbued with the meaning of inheriting history, tradition, culture, and connections with the world.[28]

Transportation

A 3.2 km extension of the Osaka Metro Chuo Line was constructed from its former terminus at Cosmosquare Station using the Yumesaki Tunnel to Yumeshima Station,[29] which opened on 19 January 2025.[30][31]

Opening ceremony and operations

A rehearsal for Expo 2025 was conducted from 4 to 6 April, a week before the opening.[32] About 98,000 people attended, including those from exhibiting companies (who attended on 4 April) and Osaka residents and citizens selected through advance applications and lottery (who attended on 5 and 6 April).[32][33] A media preview was hosted on 9 April.[34] The dedication ceremony for Expo 2025 took place on 12 April 2025[13][14][35] at the EXPO Hall "Shine Hut" and the EXPO National Day Hall "Ray Garden".[36][37] The ceremony was attended by Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, Emperor Naruhito, Empress Masako, Crown Prince Akishino, and 1,300 representatives of participating nations.[35] The theme of the opening ceremony was "Re-Connect: Circulate, Resonate, Return, Connect". After Naruhito gave an opening address, Akishino, Honorary President of the Expo, performed an "opening action" by placing his hand over the activation panel to open the Expo.[38] Expo 2025 officially opened the following day, 13 April.[39][40] At the time of the opening, eight foreign nations' pavilions were incomplete.[41][42]

Participants

Countries

Withdrawn countries (with dates of withdrawal)

International organizations

Withdrawn international organizations

Pavilions

The Expo is held on an artificial island called Yumeshima, located in Osaka Bay, with a view of the Seto Inland Sea. The Pavilion area is located in the Expo's centre, with waters in the southern part and greenery in the western part of the expo.[50] The following countries will have pavilions present at the Expo:

Self-built pavilions (Type A)

Small pavilions (Type B)

Commons A pavilions

Commons B pavilions

Commons C pavilions

Commons D pavilions

Commons F pavilions

Domestic pavilions

  •  Japan Pavilion
  • Women's Pavilion in collaboration with Cartier
  • Osaka Healthcare Pavilion
  • Kansai Pavilion

Pavilions for private sectors

Signature pavilions

Directors

The directors of the expo were announced on 23 May 2019 and include Hiroyuki Ikeda, Kengo Sakurada, Hirofumi Yoshimura (Governor of Osaka), and Ichirō Matsui (Mayor of Osaka), with Hiroyuki Ishige as the secretary general, and Hiroyuki Takeuchi and Manatsu Ichinoki acting as vice secretaries general.[52]

The current Chairman and Representative Director of the Japan Association for the 2025 World Exposition is Masakazu Tokura, Chairman of the Japan Business Federation. He has been the Chairman and Representative Director of the Japan Association for the 2025 World Exposition since June 2021.[53]

See also

References

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  43. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an ao ap aq ar as at au av aw ax ay az ba bb bc bd be bf bg bh bi bj bk bl bm bn bo bp bq br bs bt bu bv bw bx by bz ca cb cc cd ce cf cg ch ci cj ck cl cm cn co cp cq cr cs ct cu cv cw cx cy cz da db dc dd de df dg dh di dj dk dl dm dn do dp dq dr ds dt du dv dw dx dy dz ea eb ec ed ee ef eg eh ei ej ek el em en eo ep eq er es et eu ev ew ex ey ez fa fb fc fd fe "Confirmed Participants for the Expo2025".
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  51. ^ TECH WORLD Expo 2025
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