Japan gears up to welcome the world to Expo 2025 – to experience, explore and imagine the future society of our lives and to shape a vision for a better tomorrow.
With one year to go until Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai Japan welcomes the world to Osaka on 13 April 2025, Japan is ready to bring the international community together for six months of collaboration, creativity, innovation, wisdom, dialogue, and action. In an age where humanity is facing a myriad of unprecedented challenges, the need to unite and cooperate, to make genuine, positive, and sustainable change has never been greater.
From 13 April to 13 October 2025, millions of visitors from around the world will join 161 participating countries, regions, and 9 international organisations, along with leading Japanese private sector firms and governmental participants to experience Expo 2025 under the theme of Designing Future Society for Our Lives.
To mark the One Year to Go milestone, and to engage a nationwide audience, the Japan Association for the 2025 World Exposition held simultaneous events in both Tokyo and Osaka on Saturday, 13 April.
In central Tokyo, an audience convened for a special One Year to Go celebration. The event commenced with a video welcome message from Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, reaffirming the global significance of Expo 2025 and offering his best wishes and support to the Expo 2025 organisers and stakeholders for the final year of event preparations.
This was followed by a panel discussion featuring the Producers of the eight Thematic Projects and Signature Pavilions located in the heart of Expo 2025, in the centre of the Grand Ring. The Producers shared insights into the programmes they are developing and the themes they seek to convey. Unified under the central theme of ‘Life,’ the Signature Pavilions promise to be a highlight for visitors next year.
The program concluded with the unveiling of the Official Expo 2025 Uniforms for volunteers and staff. Presented in a runway-style fashion show, the futuristic and functional designs captivated the crowd with their eye-catching style and flare. With Expo 2025 taking place across spring, summer and autumn, the uniforms will provide functionality, style, and comfort to the thousands of volunteers and staff who will work at the event across its six-month duration.
Please see the event from the below link.
Japanese: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GChI6H2A2tA
Meanwhile in central Osaka, a diverse audience spanning generations were captivated by an inspiring array of speakers, including none other than Frankie the Dino, the UNDP’s dinosaur climate activist. With his message of ‘Don’t Choose Extinction,’
Frankie underscored the urgent need for action to combat the climate crisis.
Following Frankie were representatives from the Netherlands, Australia and Germany who unveiled the designs, themes, and initial programme concepts for their respective national pavilions. These presentations offered the audience an exciting glimpse of what they can experience a year from now when they visit Expo 2025.
With a focus on engaging youth, the programme’s highlight were the presentations from local high school and university students who shared their thoughts, experiences, and aspirations for Expo 2025, along with projects they are working on aligned with the United Nations’ SDGs.
A group of students from Osaka Minoh High School presented their class project, proposing an innovative and sustainable way to repurpose wood from Expo 2025’s Grand Ring. Their proposal was to repurpose any unused materials into the traditional Japanese name plates that adorn houses in Japan and are used to mark special occasions like births and marriages.
Following this, Hidemasa Takahashi, a second-year student of Applied Functional Biology at Kobe University, presented his research on green hydrogen production using termites, highlighting the potential for termite-powered hydrogen production as a valuable, domestically produced green energy source for Japan’s future zero-carbon energy mix.
Masahiro Nakajima, a second-year Filipino language major from Osaka University’s School of Foreign Studies, shared his work with Re-Generation, an organisation connecting Gen-Z with industry and academia internationally to workshop issues and solutions centred around the SDGs. Nakajima’s aim is to empower young entrepreneurs to contribute their ideas, energy, and enthusiasm towards solving the big issues affecting societies globally.
Please see the event from the below link.
Japanese: https://youtu.be/ecAOGwNFmN8
English: https://youtu.be/skcyOMoDKCM
Enquiries about Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan
Global Communication Department, Japan Association for the 2025 World Exposition
Email: globalpr@expo2025.or.jp