Photos: Osaka Expo 2025

2 months ago 7

The 2025 Osaka World Exposition opened over the weekend, featuring more than 150 pavilions from countries, regions, and groups around the world. The theme of Osaka Expo 2025 is “Designing Future Society for Our Lives”; exhibits and features focus on technological innovation, sustainable development, and the benefits of global cooperation. Planners are expecting more than 28 million visitors over the exposition’s six-month run. Gathered below are some of the scenes from Osaka on and before opening day.

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A person stands inside a dark room, looking at suspended globes, lit up in an exhibition.

A view of a display inside the Kuwait Pavilion as it opened to the press at Yumeshima, the venue for Expo 2025 Osaka, in Japan, on April 9, 2025. #

Yukia Watanabe / The Yomiuri Shimbun / Reuters

An aerial view of the grounds of a world expo, featuring many large buildings enclosed in a circular, elevated platform

An aerial view of the grounds of Expo 2025 Osaka on April 13, 2025 #

Asahi Shimbun / Getty

A family plays inside a cavernous structure made of many long wooden beams.

A family plays in the Grand Ring wooden structure during a media day held ahead of the Expo 2025 Osaka on April 9, 2025. #

Tomohiro Ohsumi / Getty

People walk past a building and a giant sculpture of a robot warrior.

This photograph shows the Gundam pavilion during a media preview at Expo 2025 Osaka on April 9, 2025. #

Richard A. Brooks / AFP / Getty

A person walks through an exhibit space dominated by a swooping sculpture that looks like a drooping grid.

A woman walks through the Japan Pavilion on April 9, 2025. #

Tomohiro Ohsumi / Getty

An aerial view of crowds of people walking through a fairground, and on top of a tall ring structure

A photo taken from a Kyodo News helicopter shows the 2025 World Exposition's iconic Grand Ring on opening day of the six-month event, on April 13, 2025. #

Kyodo / Reuters

A crowd of people use their phones to take video of a small, one-person helicopter with many small propellers.

A demonstration flight of the Hexa "flying car" is performed at the 2025 World Exposition in Osaka on April 14, 2025. #

Kyodo / Reuters

A statue of a blue mascot. The creature has two legs, two arms, and a round belly, with a smile in the center of a large head that is ringed by red blobs that might be giant cells or eyeballs.

A man walks past Myaku-Myaku, the mascot of Expo 2025 Osaka, during a media preview day on April 9, 2025. Designer Kohei Yamashita spoke with Nikkei Asia about his five-eyed amorphous character, saying "Rather than smart or good-looking, I thought people would like a clumsy character." #

Richard A. Brooks / AFP / Getty

The exterior of an exhibition hall, dominated by large metallic cubes with deep circular insets.

The Signature Pavilion "null²," photographed just days before the opening of Expo 2025 Osaka, on April 9, 2025. #

Tomohiro Ohsumi / Getty

A robotic figure, displayed in an exhibit, seated on a bench surrounded by plants.

A robotic figure is displayed in the Signature Pavilion: Future of Life, on April 9, 2025. #

Tomohiro Ohsumi / Getty

An elevated view of an angular building with a crowd waiting to enter and a large sign outside reading "Canada"

A view of the Canada Pavilion on April 13, 2025 #

CFoto / Future Publishing / Getty

An art exhibit, made up of many mirrors and lights, with a human figure in a frame at center

An exhibition inside the Signature Pavilion "null²," produced by Japanese artist Yoichi Ochiai, on March 7, 2025 #

Kyodo / Reuters

People watch as a person rides past, seated on a futuristic-looking mobility scooter.

A visitor tries experiencing a UNI-ONE electric mobility device built by Honda at Expo 2025 Osaka on April 14, 2025. #

Hiro Komae / AP

The exterior of a pavilion, fronted by a sign reading "United States of America" in both Japanese and English.

The United States pavilion on opening day of Expo 2025 Osaka, on April 13, 2025 #

Hiro Komae / AP

A crowd of visitors looks upward, many using their phones to take pictures.

People visit the United States pavilion on opening day, April 13, 2025. #

Hiro Komae / AP

Several visitors stand in an exhibition space looking toward three large video screens depicting a baseball game.

An image of Los Angeles Dodgers Japanese baseball player Shohei Ohtani during a visual presentation at the United States pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka, on April 9, 2025. #

Richard A. Brooks / AFP / Getty

A statue of two intertwined figures stands in front of a large pavilion building with a copper-covered helical staircase in the center.

The exterior of the France pavilion on April 9, 2025. Jacques Maire, the commissioner general for France at Expo 2025 Osaka, described the building as "the incarnation of a hymn to Love." #

Richard A. Brooks / AFP / Getty

An exhibition space on a curved wall, featuring a large projected image of a model in a dress on the left side and many small and large dresses mounted on the wall on the right side

A fashion exhibition is displayed in the France pavilion on April 9, 2025. #

Richard A. Brooks / AFP / Getty

A large crowd wearing red, white, or blue raincoats lines up on a tall ring structure, singing.

Visitors sing "Ode to Joy" at Expo 2025 Osaka on opening day, April 13, 2025. #

Kyodo / Reuters

People climb stairs into the arched entrance of a pavilion.

People visit Spain's pavilion on opening day, April 13, 2025. #

Hiro Komae / AP

A person takes photos inside an indoor exhibit made to look very much like an Australian forest.

Visitors tour the Australia pavilion on April 13, 2025, in Osaka. #

Tomohiro Ohsumi / Getty

People walk past a large structure that has colorful images projected on its sides.

Visitors walk past a display in the Pasona Natureverse pavilion on April 13, 2025, in Osaka. #

Tomohiro Ohsumi / Getty

People walk past a concept model of a four-legged rideable robot.

Kawasaki Heavy Industries Group exhibits the Corleo, a concept model of a four-legged personal mobility vehicle that would offer off-road capabilities, at the Future Life Expo pavilion on April 13, 2025. #

David Mareuil / Anadolu / Getty

The Turkmenistan pavilion, with curved walls decorated by swooping lines that form the mane of a large horse's head

The Turkmenistan pavilion during a media preview in Osaka on April 9, 2025 #

Richard A. Brooks / AFP / Getty

People walk beside a giant spherical structure covered by thousands of bright red tiles, bearing a large sign reading "SG."

A view of the Singapore pavilion on opening day, April 13, 2025. #

Zhou You / VCG / Getty

People walk through an exhibit designed like a store, looking at blue-colored items on yellow shelves, beneath a sign reading "Not for sale."

Signage that reads "Not for sale" hangs above items displayed inside the Ukraine pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka on April 13, 2025. Ukraine's "Not for sale" pavilion features "18 items each symbolizing a human value–freedom, dignity, resilience, and so on." #

Philip Fong / AFP / Getty