As Expo 2020 Dubai comes to a close, the organizers of Expo 2025 Osaka Kansai revealed that they are ready to take over, with construction already underway.
Officials also claim that there are plans to replicate certain aspects of the first Middle East expo.
Wakamiya Kenji, minister for the World Expo 2025, Yoshimura Hirofumi, governor of Osaka prefecture, Matsui Ichiro, mayor of Osaka, and Ichinoki Manatsu, deputy secretary general of the Japan Association for the 2025 World Exposition, gave a media briefing earlier.
Describing Expo 2020 Dubai as “overwhelmingly attractive,” Kenji said: “We will learn a lot from this Expo based upon its legacy.
“We will do our part; we will relay the baton.”
He expressed particular interest in theme weeks, saying they are “a great idea, and we want to capitalise on that kind of insight, and perhaps use a similar strategy to highlight our focuses”.
Ten theme weeks have explored humanity’s most critical challenges and opportunities through a cultural, social, environmental, and economic lens as part of the Expo 2020 Programme for People and Planet.
Manatsu revealed that the site’s construction was well underway.
He confirmed that the artificial island had been filled, that the subway was being laid out, and that the land would be ready for construction to begin in April of next year, with a completion date of early 2025.
The theme of Expo 2025 Osaka Kansai is Designing Future Society for Our Lives, with sub-themes of Saving Lives, Empowering Lives, and Connecting Lives.
“We want to pursue happiness and consider what kinds of lives are fulfilled lives,” Hirofumi said.
Ichiro mentioned the 1970 Osaka Expo, when the UAE had not yet been formed, but Abu Dhabi had a pavilion.
He discussed manufacturing and craft successes, but described Osaka’s “hospitable people” as the city’s “most valuable asset” as preparations continue.