Osaka expo kicks off for 184-day run

The Expo returned to Osaka after 55 years, this time at the 155-hectare site on the artificial island of Yumeshima. The Japan Association for the 2025 World Exposition expects the event to attract 227,000 visitors daily.

Under the theme "Designing Future Society for Our Lives," there are a total of 67 pavilions. Eight of them are "Signature Pavilions," designed by eight prominent Japanese individuals. Of the other 17 domestic pavilions, one is run by the Japanese government and 16 by companies, municipalities and others.

The Expo brings together cultures and technologies from some 158 countries and regions. All official pavilions are located inside the Grand Ring, the world's largest wooden structure designed to symbolize the unity and connectedness of diverse countries.

On Sunday, the tape-cutting ceremony was held in the presence of Masakazu Tokura, chairman of the Japan Association for the 2025 Expo, and others.

Among the Expo's highlights, the Pasona Natureverse pavilion features an "iPS heart," a cardiac muscle sheet made from induced pluripotent stem cells.

A rock from Mars found by a Japanese Antarctic research expedition is on display at the government's Japan Pavilion, where visitors can touch it.