Lots to see and do and flush!
As part of our ongoing coverage of the 2025 Osaka-Kansai World Expo, we’re excited to bring you a look at the many wonderful sights at the venue. Let’s start with what I know everyone has been dying to see: the restrooms!
▼ This one was built using stones intended for castle construction centuries ago but never used.
In addition to normal lavatories at food courts and information centers, the Expo has several high-concept restrooms developed by up-and-coming architects in Japan.
The pavilions were rather nice too, so let’s take a look at those next.
As we saw in the previous article about the 2025 Osaka-Kansai World Expo, it can get pretty busy, and the places you’ll find the most people are waiting in front of are the major national pavilions set up inside the Grand Ring.
▼ Japan’s was the only national pavilion set up outside of the ring.
▼ It also had a robot roaming around going, “bloop, bloop, bloop…”
If you’re planning on going to the Expo, it’s highly recommended to decide which national pavilion you want to go inside ahead of time and make a reservation. And if it’s one of the more popular pavilions like France, Italy, or the USA, you’d best do it as far in advance as possible.
▼ France
▼ USA
▼ Italy
Some pavilions have non-reservation entry, but it either involves only partial access, lineups around two hours long, or both.
▼ Belgium
▼ China
▼ Hungary
Some had restaurants, food stalls, or stages out front that anyone could access so at least you could get a taste of culture in a shorter period of time.
▼ Brazil was selling some fine coffee outside.
▼ Thailand put on a Muay Thai show in front of their pavilion.
▼ Australia had a cafe and live music stage in front of theirs.
Since I wasn’t there as a regular ticket holder, I didn’t have access to the reservation system. I also couldn’t afford to wait so long in a line while trying to see everything. Honestly though, I think if you’re going to choose a major pavilion with a big crowd like this, it really should be a country you already have a strong interest in since they’re all basically just exhibits of the nation’s culture, products, and achievements.
▼ Pavilions like Austria…
▼ Oman…
▼ and Kuwait made me realize this Expo would make a killer Tony Hawk Pro Skater course.
Theme park logic applies here too though, and if you can hang around until about after 6:00 p.m. the lines start to thin out and it’s easier to enter some of the major pavilions. Asking around, Germany, Portugal, the Nordic Circle, and Qatar had about 10 to 30-minute non-reservation waits at that point.
▼ Portugal
▼ Nordic Circle
▼ Qatar
Some seemed like you could just walk into them freely in the evening, like UAE, Luxembourg, and the Czech Republic. This probably varies quite a bit depending on the day though, so just consider it a matter of luck where you might be able to go in.
▼ UAE
▼ Luxembourg
▼ If you’re lucky, you’ll get to see Rene, the Czech Republic’s counterpart to Myaku-Myaku
Another benefit of hanging around after sunset is that many pavilions take on a whole different look at night.
▼ Korea during the day
▼ Korea at night
▼ Spain during the day
▼ Spain at night
▼ Canada during the day
▼ Canada at night
If the idea of making reservations and dealing with long lines is not appealing, I still think there are lots of interesting things to see and do aside from the major national pavilions. There are three tiers of pavilions, the large ones that we’ve seen so far and medium-size ones that have a sort of strip mall layout. Wait times for these are generally much shorter.
▼ Chile, Tunisia, Cambodia, and Algeria
And then there are about five or six Commons buildings that house booths hosted by several countries. These were really neat because you could see a lot of diverse culture in small bites and all under one roof. Yemen had a particularly interesting stall that was set up like an authentic marketplace and you could even haggle for items there.
When the Expo first opened, the Palestine exhibit was partially empty with a message saying their exhibits were delayed by the military occupation. However, now it appears everything has arrived. This booth makes no reference to the current war and instead serves to remind everyone that Palestine is still, at its heart, a place of natural beauty and culture.
Unfortunately, one pavilion that it appears no one will be able to enter is the one for Nepal. Although mostly built, an inability to cover construction costs has left it unfinished and given the nickname, “The Sagrada Familia of the Expo.”
Corporate pavilions were a mixed bag. The Panasonic and Osaka Healthcare ones both looked interesting but the good stuff was reservation only. There was also this thing that I was dying to go inside but couldn’t. It’s a pile of quivering metallic cubes making a mechanical droning sound, designed by artist Yoichi Ochia and called Null².
The Gundam one had a lineup most of the time but it looked manageable. The main attraction is kneeling right outside anyway.
There’s also another life-sized famous robot statue right across from the Gundam.
If I had to pick one must-see pavilion, it would be one made by the comedy and talent management company Yoshimoto Kogyo. When I originally reported on it before the expo I was intrigued, but the real thing was even better than I expected.
The space under the big happy face was much like I described before and interesting. It’s small, but the lineup is also super fast and only took me three minutes. But the real charm is the stage show they put on in the back.
Yoshimoto is known for holding shingeki sketch comedy which is an old-fashioned style that almost harkens back to vaudevillian. Considering the dated style and language barriers, I was skeptical that they could pull it off for an international audience, but they did an amazingly good job.
The performances change throughout the run of the Expo, but when I went they did a 20-minute show called “Nandeyanen” which is a versatile Osakan dialect exclamation with a lot of the same nuances of “Oh, come on!” or “What the hell?!” In this play the only dialogue is “nandeyanen” and members of the audience are also invited to the stage to take part and deliver their own punchline of “Nandeyanen!”
Also, in the evenings they hold a traditional bon odori dance which is very easy and accessible for anyone to just jump in and join. But the twist here is that it also incorporates the quintessential Japanese culture of karaoke, and anyone can take the stage as well to belt out their favorite song for everyone to dance around to.
The whole area has a really laid-back atmosphere with people just lying around and taking it easy. In this way, it serves as the perfect antidote to any stress you might get dealing with lines and reservations and I highly recommend it.
I mentioned before that I wasn’t interested in the Expo at first because there weren’t any standout attractions motivating me to go. But after going I realized that was for the best, because any attraction like that would have just been so swarming with people I wouldn’t have been able to get in. It ended up being much better and well worth the visit to just check out whatever was around and enjoy my day with some pleasant surprises.
Photos ©SoraNews24
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