A big Osaka welcome for the 2025 World Expo

It’s Osaka’s year. Fifty-five years after hosting its first World Expo, Japan’s second city is preparing to say maido (“hello” in its regional dialect) to millions of visitors for the 2025 World Expo in Osaka . From 13 April to 13 October, representatives from across the world will come together under the theme of “designing future society for our lives”, a shared vision explored through exhibitions and pavilions presented by each participating country.

In some ways, the Expo is Osaka’s opportunity to step out of Tokyo’s shadow. The city’s building on an already impressive global profile: it has a prefectural GDP rivalling that of Hong Kong and welcomes 16 million inbound travellers annually.

Since successfully bidding for the Expo in 2018, the city has seen a rush of developments. Not least, there’s the main venue on the artificial island of Yumeshima in Osaka Bay, where organisers have spent ¥235 billion (US$1.5 billion) on state-of-the-art facilities befitting the future-forward Expo. For seamless access to the action, there’s been an extension to the Osaka Metro Chuo Line and the construction of a new terminus.

All those exhibitors need somewhere to stay: there’s a long list of new hotels around the city. Near Osaka Station and the glittering shopping, entertainment and business district of Umeda, new luxury options include the Four Seasons Hotel Osaka and The Osaka Station Hotel.

Next month, the equally plush and beautifully minimalist Patina Osaka debuts across from Osaka’s imposing 16th-century castle – old and new Japan, contrasted together in exacting harmony.

It’s not just about infrastructure. Osaka has also been working on becoming even more welcoming. In 2021, for example, the city was Japan’s first municipality to launch a travel website for the LGBT+ community and, in 2024, it became the first Asian host city for the International LGBT+ Travel Association’s annual global convention.

As Tokyo did ahead of the 2020 Summer Olympics, Osaka banned smoking on the streets and in other public places across the city, vaping included, in January 2025.

More than a second city  

Osaka isn’t merely a scaled-down version of Tokyo. Yes, it’s smaller, with a population of 2.75 million compared to 14 million, and the cityscapes and sprawling suburbs have a similar look, but the two cities have a different vibe. 

You can partly put that down to Osakans. 

While Tokyoites have a reputation for being on the reserved side, Osakans are typically seen as outgoing, expressive and warm – maybe more direct and careful with money, too. It’s also a city known for its sense of humour and comedians, who reel off gags in Osaka’s animated dialect. 

One of the defining features of the city is its dialect, Osaka-ben. It comes with uniquely Osakan words, like ookini instead of arigatou for “thank you”, although few linguistic traits reveal as much about Osaka and its renowned business hustle as the greeting mokarimakka. It literally means “Are you making good money?” but is used as a general “How’re things?” The best answer is a coy bochi bochi (“so-so”). 

The Osaka World Expo 2025 in numbers 

3.2-kilometre extension of the Osaka Metro Chuo Line 

160 countries and regions participating 

390-hectare artificial island of Yumeshima 

184 days’ duration 

1.5 billion (USD) spent on facilities 

5.9 billion (USD) estimated total spending by visitors 

28.2 million estimated total visitors 

What in the world? 

World Expos are global gatherings organised to explore solutions to pressing challenges, supervised by Paris-headquartered intergovernmental body the Bureau International des Expositions, established in 1928.  

Expos are split between World Expos and Specialised Expos, with separate mandates for each. This is Osaka’s third Expo: the Osaka Expo 1970, the first in Asia, became a symbol of Japan’s rapid economic growth. The city then organised a Horticultural Expo in 1990 as part of a strategy to increase Japan’s green space. 

If you happen to be joining the crowds for the World Expo, there’s offers in store for our members. Cathay Pacific Standard Chartered Mastercard holders, as well as Silver members and above, will also be able to earn a bonus 1,000 Asia Miles and HKD100 off when adding a World Expo ticket to their Cathay Holidays Osaka “Flight + Hotel” package if you book before 7 April.