Expo 2025 Osaka, the grand world exposition organized by the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE), has officially opened. More than 10,000 people sang Beethoven’s 9th Symphony to mark the beginning of the six-month event. This is the second time the Expo returns to Osaka since the 1970 event, and around 28 million visitors are expected to attend this year.
The theme of the Expo is “Designing Future Societies for Our Lives“, with sub-themes such as “Saving Lives,” “Empowering Lives,” and “Connecting Lives.” The goal is to create a society where the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)—originally laid out in 17 points at a 2015 summit—are realized. With five years left until the 2030 SDG deadline, 2025 is seen as a critical year to accelerate progress. Japan is also using this opportunity to further its national vision known as Society 5.0—a “super-smart society” that follows previous societal stages (information, industrial, agricultural, and hunter-gatherer), aiming to integrate cyberspace and the physical world to enhance human well-being.
The Expo site is located on an artificial island in Osaka Bay, designed by Sou Fujimoto, who also envisioned the Expo’s symbolic centerpiece: the Grand Ring—a 2-kilometer-long wooden structure with a massive park on top. Although it is already listed in the Guinness World Records as the world’s largest wooden structure, it still cannot house all the Expo’s pavilions. The ring, clearly the heart of Expo 2025 Osaka, draws inspiration from ancient Japanese temple architecture and is made from locally sourced sugi cedar and hinoki cypress, reinforced with earthquake-resistant metal elements and intricate carpentry. The 60,000-square-meter, 20-meter-tall structure forms a dynamic community space, with a transit route running beneath it and an elevated observation deck offering panoramic views of the Expo grounds and Osaka Bay. Green rooftops woven throughout will shift with the seasons.
From Hungary’s haystack-like dome theater to Portugal’s ethereal waves of hanging ropes, each pavilion tells a unique story about heritage, materiality, and, of course, visions of the future. The Nordic pavilion, made from sustainably harvested wood, showcases circular design principles, while Saudi Arabia’s multisensory structure blends computational design with traditional cooling techniques. Beyond these architectural marvels, Expo 2025 Osaka is a collaborative platform for sustainability, technological innovation, and artistic engagement.
Sustainability and innovation are key priorities on the Expo’s agenda. The showcase project “Future Society“, highlights cutting-edge technologies and concepts: the Smart Mobility exhibit introduces hydrogen fuel-cell boats as a cleaner transport option for visitors, while the Digital Pavilion plans to debut the NTT All-Photonics Network, enabling high-speed, low-latency communication throughout the venue.