Expo 2025

2025 Osaka
Logo
Overview
BIE-class	Universal exposition
Category	International Registered Exhibition
Name	EXPO 2025
Motto	Designing Future Society for Our Lives
Area	155 hectares (383 acres)
Visitors	28 million (projected) ni
Organized by	Hiroyuki Ishige (secretary general)
Mascot	Myaku-Myaku
Location
Country	Japan
City	Osaka
Venue	Yumeshima Island, Konohana-ku
Coordinates	34°39′12.7″N 135°23′11.1″E
Timeline
Bidding	22 April 2017 (2017-04-22)
Awarded	23 November 2018 (2018-11-23)
Opening	13 April 2025 (2025-04-13)
Closure	13 October 2025 (2025-10-13)
Universal expositions
Previous	Expo 2020 in Dubai
Next	Expo 2030 in Riyadh
Specialized expositions
Previous	Expo 2023 in Buenos Aires (cancelled)
Next	Expo 2027 in Belgrade
Horticultural expositions
Previous	Expo 2022 in Almere
Next	Expo 2027 in Yokohama
Internet
Website	www.expo2025.or.jp/en/

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 an upcoming 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 third time Osaka hosts a World Expo, having previously hosted Expo 1970 and 1990. 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.

• Baku, Azerbaijan – The Azerbaijani capital entered its candidacy before the deadline[5] under the theme "Developing Human Capital, Building a Better Future".
• 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]
• 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

• 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.[4][9]

Vote

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]

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".[12] The theme "Saving Lives" includes infant vaccinations, sanitation, lifestyle (diet and exercise) and extending lifespans.[12]

The concept is "People's Living Lab".[13]

Transportation

A 3.2km extension of the Osaka Metro Chuo Line is being constructed from its current terminus at Cosmosquare Station using the Yumesaki Tunnel to Yumeshima Station, which opened on January 19, 2025.[14]

Participants

•  Algeria[15]
•  Angola[15]
•  Antigua and Barbuda[15]
•  Armenia[15]
•  Australia[15]
•  Austria[15]
•  Azerbaijan[15]
•  Bahrain[15]
•  Bangladesh[15]
•  Barbados[15]
•  Belgium[15]
•  Belize[15]
•  Benin[15]
•  Bhutan[15]
•  Bolivia[15]
•  Brazil[15]
•  Brunei[15]
•  Bulgaria[15]
•  Burkina Faso[15]
•  Burundi[15]
•  Cabo Verde[15]
•  Cambodia[15]
•  Cameroon[15]
•  Canada[15]
•  Central African Republic[15]
•  Chad
•  Chile
•  China[15]
•  Colombia[15]
•  Comoros[15]
•  Côte d'Ivoire[15]
•  Croatia[15]
•  Cuba[15]
•  Czechia[15]
•  DR Congo[15]
•  Denmark[15]
•  Djibouti[15]
•  Dominican Republic[15]
•  Egypt[15]
•  Equatorial Guinea[15]
•  Eswatini[15]
•  Ethiopia[15]
•  Fiji[15]
•  Finland[15]
•  France[15]
•  Gabon[15]
•  Gambia[15]
•  Germany[15]
•  Ghana[15]
•  Grenada
•  Guatemala[15]
•  Guinea[15]
•  Guinea-Bissau[15]
•  Guyana[15]
•  Haiti[15]
•  Honduras[15]
•  Hungary[15]
•  Iceland[15]
•  India[15]
•  Indonesia[15]
•  Ireland[15]
•  Israel[15]
•  Italy[15]
•  Jamaica
•  Japan
•  Jordan[15]
•  Kazakhstan[15]
•  Kenya[15]
•  South Korea[15]
•  Kosovo[15]
•  Kuwait[15]
•  Kyrgyzstan[15]
•  Laos[15]
•  Latvia[15]
•  Lesotho[15]
•  Liberia[15]
•  Lithuania[15]
•  Luxembourg[15]
•  Madagascar[15]
•  Malawi[15]
•  Malaysia[15]
•  Mali[15]
•  Malta[15]
•  Marshall Islands[15]
•  Mauritania[15]
•  Mauritius[15]
•  Micronesia[15]
•  Moldova[15]
•  Monaco[15]
•  Mongolia[15]
•  Montenegro[15]
•  Mozambique[15]
•  Nauru[15]
•    Nepal[15]
•  Netherlands[15]
•  Nigeria[15]
•  North Macedonia[15]
•  Norway[15]
•  Oman[15]
•  Pakistan[15]
•  Palau[15]
•  Palestine[15]
•  Panama[15]
•  Papua New Guinea[15]
•  Paraguay[15]
•  Peru[15]
•  Philippines[15]
•  Poland[15]
•  Portugal[15]
•  Qatar[15]
•  Romania[15]
•  Rwanda[15]
•  Saint Kitts and Nevis[15]
•  Saint Lucia[15]
•  Saint Vincent and the Grenadines[15]
•  Samoa[15]
•  San Marino[15]
•  São Tomé and Príncipe[15]
•  Saudi Arabia[15]
•  Senegal[15]
•  Serbia[15]
•  Seychelles[15]
•  Sierra Leone[15]
•  Singapore[15]
•  Slovakia[15]
•  Slovenia[15]
•  Solomon Islands[15]
•  Somalia[15]
•  South Sudan[15]
•  Spain[15]
•  Sri Lanka[15]
•  Sudan[15]
•  Suriname[15]
•  Sweden[15]
•   Switzerland[15]
•  Taiwan[16]
•  Tajikistan[15]
•  Tanzania[15]
•  Thailand[15]
•  Timor-Leste[15]
•  Togo[15]
•  Tonga[15]
•  Trinidad and Tobago[15]
•  Tunisia[15]
•  Türkiye[15]
•  Turkmenistan[15]
•  Tuvalu[15]
•  Uganda[15]
•  Ukraine[15]
•  United Arab Emirates[15]
•  United Kingdom[15]
•  United States[15]
•  Uruguay[15]
•  Uzbekistan[15]
•  Vanuatu[15]
•  Vatican[15]
•  Vietnam[15]
•  Yemen[15]
•  Zambia[15]
•  Zimbabwe[15]

Withdrew

•  Afghanistan (Withdrawal on 1 November 2024)
•  Argentina (Withdrawal on 18 June 2024)[17]
•  Botswana (Withdrawal on 27 December 2024)[18]
•  El Salvador (Withdrawal on 27 December 2024)[18]
•  Estonia (Withdrawal on 14 November 2023)[19]
•  Greece (Withdrawal on 29 November 2024)[20]
•  Iran (Withdrawal on 27 December 2024)[18]
•  Mexico (Withdrawal on 14 November 2023)[19]
•  Niger (Withdrawal on 1 November 2024)
•  Niue (Withdrawal on 18 June 2024)
•  Russia (Withdrawal on 28 November 2023)[21]
•  South Africa (Withdrawal on 27 December 2024)[18]

International Organizations

•  African Union[15]
•  ASEAN[15]
•  European Union[15]
•  International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement[15]
• International Solar Alliance[15]
• International Science and Technology Center[15]
• ITER[15]
• Pacific Islands Forum[15]
•  United Nations[15]

Pavilions

The Expo will be held on an artificial island called Yumeshima, located in Osaka Bay, with a view of the Seto Inland Sea. The Pavilion area will be located in the Expo's centre, with waters in the southern part and greenery in the western part of the expo.[22] The following countries will have pavilions present at the Expo:

Self-Built Pavilions

•  Australia
•  Austria
•  Azerbaijan
•  Bahrain
•  Belgium
•  Brazil
•  Bulgaria
•  Canada
•  China
•  Czechia
•  France
•  Germany
•  Holy See (part of Italian Pavilion)
•  Hungary
•  India
•  Indonesia
•  Ireland
•  Italy
•  Japan
•  Kuwait
•  Luxembourg
•  Malaysia
•  Monaco
•  Netherlands
•  Oman
•  Philippines
•  Poland
•  Portugal
•  Qatar
•  Romania
•  Saudi Arabia
•  Serbia
•  Singapore
•  South Korea
•  Spain
•   Switzerland
•  Taiwan
•  Thailand
•  Turkey
•  Turkmenistan
•  United Arab Emirates
•  United Kingdom
•  United States
•  Uzbekistan

Nordic Pavilion

•  Denmark
•  Finland
•  Iceland
•  Norway
•  Sweden

Small Pavilions

•  Algeria
•  Chile
•  International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement
•  Tunisia

Commons Joint Pavilions

•  Slovakia

Domestic Pavilions

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

Pavilions for Private Sectors

• Electric Power Pavilion
• Gas Pavilion Obake Wonderland
• Gundam Next Future Pavilion
• Iida Group and Osaka Metropolitan University Joint Pavilion
• Mitsubishi Pavilion
• Nintendo Pavilion World
• NTT Pavilion
• ORA Gaishoku Pavilion
• Panasonic Group Pavilion
• Pasona Pavilion
• Sumitomo Pavilion
• Tamayama Digital Tech World
• Yoshimoto Pavilion
• Zeri Japan Blue Ocean Dome

Signature Pavilions

• Better Co-Being – Hiroaki Miyata
• Future of Life – Hiroshi Ishiguro
• Playground of Life: Jellyfish Pavilion – Sachiko Nakajima
• null^2 – Yoichi Ochiai
• Dynamic Equilibrium of Life – Shinichi Fukuoka
• Live Earth Journey – Shoji Kawamori
• Earth Mart – Kundō Koyama
• Dialouge Theater – Naomi Kawase

Gallery of pavilions

• 
  Austria
• 
  Belgium
• 
  Italy
• 
  Switzerland
• 
  Taiwan

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.[23]

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.[24]

See also

• World's fair
• List of world expositions

References

1. "Overview". Osaka Kansai Expo 2025. Archived from the original on 11 August 2022. Retrieved 11 August 2022.
2. "Osaka Is World Expo 2025 Host | JAPAN Forward". Japan Forward. 23 November 2018. Archived from the original on 24 November 2018. Retrieved 23 November 2018.
3. "Japan submits Expo 2025 Registration Dossier to BIE". Archived from the original on 4 February 2020. Retrieved 22 March 2010.
4. Jérôme, Béatrice (22 November 2016). "La France candidate à l'Exposition universelle de 2025". Le Monde.fr (in French). ISSN 1950-6244. Archived from the original on 22 November 2016. Retrieved 18 March 2017.
5. "Baku bids for World Expo 2025". azernews.az. 23 May 2017. Archived from the original on 23 May 2017. Retrieved 23 May 2017.
6. "Osaka launches formal bid to host 2025 World Expo". www.mainichi.jp/english/. Archived from the original on 28 April 2017. Retrieved 27 April 2017.
7. "Japan submits bid for World Expo 2025". www.bie-paris.org. Archived from the original on 28 April 2017. Retrieved 27 April 2017.
8. "World Expo 2025". www.bie-paris.org. Archived from the original on 28 February 2017. Retrieved 18 March 2017.
9. "France drops bid to host 2025 World Expo". Reuters. 21 January 2018. Archived from the original on 22 January 2018.
10. "Japan elected host country of World Expo 2025". Archived from the original on 1 December 2018.
11. "ＢＩＥ総会：２５年万博、大阪に決定 ５５年ぶり開催". Mainichi Shimbun (in Japanese). 24 November 2018. Archived from the original on 23 November 2018. Retrieved 17 March 2024.
12. "Japan Association for the 2025 World Exposition". Archived from the original on 29 March 2022. Retrieved 1 January 2020.
13. "Overview". Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan Official Website. Archived from the original on 29 March 2022. Retrieved 17 January 2024.
14. "Osaka Metro 中央線延伸部（コスモスクエア駅から夢洲駅間）が2025年1月19日（日曜日）に開業します｜Osaka Metro". Osaka Metro (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 13 December 2024. Retrieved 10 October 2024.
15. "Confirmed Participants for the Expo2025".
16. "2025年大阪世博 台灣可望以企業名義參展 - Rti央廣" (in Chinese (Taiwan)). Archived from the original on 3 April 2022.
17. "Argentina mulls withdrawal from 2025 World Expo in Japan". Kyodo News. 30 May 2024. Archived from the original on 30 May 2024. Retrieved 30 May 2024.
18. "Iran, 3 Others Withdraw from 2025 Osaka Expo". nippon.com. 27 December 2024. Archived from the original on 2 January 2025. Retrieved 2 January 2025.
19. "Mexico, Estonia withdraw from 2025 World Expo: Japan minister". Kyodo News. 14 November 2023. Archived from the original on 14 November 2023. Retrieved 10 December 2023.
20. "Greece withdraws from 2025 World Expo in Osaka, becoming 8th nation". Kyodo News. 29 November 2024. Archived from the original on 30 November 2024. Retrieved 29 November 2024.
21. "Russia withdraws from 2025 World Expo in Japan". Kyodo News. 29 November 2023. Archived from the original on 29 November 2023. Retrieved 10 December 2023.
22. "Expo 2025 Osaka". www.bie-paris.org. Archived from the original on 22 September 2023. Retrieved 22 October 2023.
23. "Appointment of Directors | Japan Association for the 2025 World Exposition". Archived from the original on 31 December 2019. Retrieved 31 December 2019.
24. "TOKURA Masakazu Appointed as New Chairman and Representative Director". Japan Association for the 2025 World Exposition. 16 June 2021. Archived from the original on 3 August 2021. Retrieved 29 September 2021.

External links

• Official website
• BIE Paris World Expo 2025 microsite
• Osaka 2025 bid (archival)
• Bureau International des Expositions Twitter account