By Geert Benoit
World Expos always offer a unique combination of culture and innovation. The fact that they only occur every five years makes them even more special. I’m particularly excited because in 2025, the World Expo will be hosted in Osaka, Japan. I want to bang the drum for this amazing event and its host city, by giving you three excellent reasons to visit.
I am currently in Japan and will be leaving just before the World Expo kicks off. My timing is a bit unfortunate, because I won’t see the cherry blossoms nor the Expo. Over the next six months, you can expect to be inundated with news from Japan. Nevertheless, I still want to add this personal contribution to the ocean of information on the Osaka World Expo.
Osaka, host of World Expo 2025
With the World Expo, it’s Osaka (not Tokyo) that will be in the spotlight. Osaka is Japan’s second-largest city and serves as its commercial center, while Tokyo functions as the country’s administrative hub. Osaka is the capital of the Kansai region, whereas Tokyo is the capital of the Kanto region. In Japan, people often refer to Western Japan and Eastern Japan, though to outsiders, it may seem more like North and South.
Osaka has been the World Expo’s host before, in 1970 to be exact. If you want to take a short nostalgia trip, there is plenty of online footage that can transport you back 55 years. You can even take a virtual Sabena flight to Osaka.
Besides the World Expo, there are three other compelling reasons why you should consider a trip to Osaka:
1. Osaka, the heart of innovation
Osaka is proud of its famous inventions, including cup noodles, karaoke, conveyor belt sushi, and the cellphone with a camera, among others. The city is also home to the headquarters of several renowned tech companies, including Panasonic, Daikin, Shimano, Kubota, DMG Mori, Omron, Nintendo and many more. As for Yamagata, in addition to our offices in Yokohama and Tokyo, we also have an office in Osaka to serve our local customers.
2. The cultural experience
Osaka will captivate you with its vibrant street food culture, temples, canal waters and markets. There’s much authentic culture to experience in Osaka. And you should certainly combine the World Expo with a visit to the ancient capitals of Nara and Kyoto.
3. Japan’s kitchen
Osaka has a unique food culture with takoyaki (octopus dumplings) as the most famous. Go to Dotombori and locals will explain you the concept of kuidaore, which translates as ‘eating yourself to ruin’. It’s part of a longer Japanese proverb: “Dress into ruin in Kyoto, eat into ruin in Osaka”. If you like to eat till you drop – or eat yourself bankrupt – Osaka is the place to be.
Osaka, a must-see in its own right
Locals often ask me: “Do you prefer Osaka or Tokyo?” (Interestingly, people from Tokyo rarely ask this question). To avoid any difficult discussion, I always reply “The Hanshin Tigers (the local Osaka baseball team) are my favorite Japanese team”.
And yet, even without the Expo, you should schedule Osaka for your next visit to Japan. Osaka is unique in its own right, it is lively, noisy, colorful and more chaotic than Kyoto and Tokyo. One example: Osaka has a unique escalator culture. While the rest of Japan typically has people walking on the left and standing on the right, in Osaka, you walk on the right and stand on the left.
And beyond all this, most of all you’ll love the people of Osaka who are open, friendly and down-to-earth. And they speak a beautiful dialect of Japanese, called Kansai-ben. In Osaka you say “OoKini” instead of “Arigato”.
For me, it’s always a pleasure to meet my colleagues and friends in Osaka, not in the least our most famous employee from the Osaka office, Oishi-san (sorry, had to mention that).
If you’re looking for more tips and tricks about Japan, feel free to DM me on LinkedIn.
For more Belgian news on the Expo: follow Belgium-Japan Association (BJA) or BelExpo Belgian Pavilion.
Enjoy Osaka!