A Future You Could Walk Through: The Human Story of Expo 2025, Osaka

Days after the close of Expo 2025 on 13 October, the impact of this landmark global gathering continues to resonate. Over 184 days, the Expo welcomed more than 29 million visitors, bringing the world together in a celebration of unity, innovation, and diversity. While the event has concluded, its guiding vision — “Designing a Future Society for Our Lives” — lives on through the ideas, connections, and collaborations it inspired.

In the spring of 2025, the doors to the future opened daily at Yumeshima Island, welcoming millions into a shared vision of tomorrow. As the first World Expo after the COVID-19 pandemic, Expo 2025 carried the weight of history and the promise of renewal.

For 184 days, on an artificial island rising from Osaka Bay, the world gathered again guided by physical, emotional, and creative connections. Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan was not just an exhibition but a collective exhale after years of distance, a reminder that progress feels different when experienced together.

Spread across 155 hectares and open from morning until night, the Expo welcomed 165 official participants, including 158 countries and regions. Never before had a World Expo in Japan drawn such broad international participation. The theme, "Designing Future Society for Our Lives,” was more than a cliched slogan. It was a question posed to every visitor.

A Global Reunion in a Post-Pandemic World

As the first World Expo held after the COVID-19 pandemic, Expo 2025 carried deep symbolic meaning. It offered something digital screens never could, that is, shared space. Visitors explored the idea of “life” through immersive exhibits that appealed to sight, sound, touch, and emotion.

Public engagement grew steadily. Early days saw just over 100,000 visitors daily. By the closing months, crowds surged. When the gates finally shut on October 13, total attendance reached 29,017,924 visitors, 132 per cent of Expo 2005 Aichi’s numbers!

At one of the interactive pavilions, a young student from Osaka used a digital interface to design a model “future city” powered entirely by renewable energy. Watching the lights turn green on the screen, the child turned to a parent and said, “This is where I want to live.” Moments like these reflected how the Expo translated complex global challenges into tangible inspiration for the next generation.

Domestic visitors formed the majority, yet the international presence, especially from Asia, Europe, and North America, gave the site a constant hum of languages, accents, and perspectives. Nearly three-quarters of visitors said they would recommend the Expo and hoped to return.

When Innovation Met Everyday Life

While technology shaped the Expo’s infrastructure, culture gave it a soul.

Expo 2025 doubled as a real-world laboratory. Cash disappeared entirely. From Tickets to souvenirs, everything ran digitally. Seventy-three payment brands operated across 235 stores, making it the first fully cashless World Expo in history.

For many elderly visitors, the fully cashless system initially raised concerns. Yet volunteers patiently guided them through digital payment steps, and by the end of the day, several remarked on how quick and stress-free their experience had been which became a testament of how thoughtful design can make innovation inclusive.

Beyond payments, the Expo tested reservation-based crowd management, digital guides, and multilingual apps. These weren’t flashy add-ons. They quietly reduced congestion, shortened wait times, and improved accessibility, helping achieve an overall venue satisfaction rate of 80 percent.

Culture, Dialogue, and the Power of Presence

Expo 2025 was also a festival of ideas and identities. Across 429 Theme Week programs, 2,653 speakers addressed issues ranging from biodiversity and peace to education and post-2030 development pathways. Nearly seven million people engaged, both on site and online.

National Days and Special Days turned Yumeshima into a rotating world stage. Traditional music drifted across walkways. Dancers rehearsed beside policy forums. Food aromas mingled with debate. Ninety-one global leaders, including presidents and prime ministers, walked the grounds, many attending these ceremonies.

The Virtual Expo extended this reach even further. With 31.83 million accesses, live streams and virtual tours transformed Expo 2025 into a borderless event, proving that physical presence and digital access could complement, rather than compete with, each other.

India’s Pavilion: A Civilization in Motion

Among the many national narratives on display, India’s story resonated with exceptional depth and clarity. The India Pavilion or 'Bharat Mandap', welcomed over 3.73 million visitors, emerging as the most admired pavilion among international participants and recording the third-highest visitor footfall overall—a standout presence and one of the Expo’s most celebrated showcases.

Inside, ancient philosophy met future-ready ambition. Exhibits moved seamlessly from space exploration and digital public infrastructure to Ayurveda, renewable energy, agriculture, and smart cities. Yoga sessions, cultural performances, and interactive installations created rhythm and calm amid the crowds.

The Oneness Lounge, centered on the idea of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam—the world as one family—left a lasting impression. India emerged not just as a destination or market, but as a living continuum of heritage and innovation, confident and outward-looking.

The Founder and Managing Editor of economicdiplomacy.in and japancalling.in Mr. Peeush Srivastava, shared his personal experience from the revered Bharat Mandap, saying, “Nothing quite prepared me for the emotional power and elegance of the Pavilion. It felt like I had stepped into a living, breathing version of India itself—where Ajanta’s ancient murals met ISRO’s lunar dreams, and the fragrance of incense danced alongside the beat of cultural program.”  

A Relationship Decades in the Making

India’s presence at Expo 2025 was not an isolated moment, but part of a decades-long dialogue between two civilizations.

From Expo ’70 Osaka to Expo 2005 Aichi, India and Japan have used World Expos to deepen mutual understanding. By 2025, that exchange had matured into a strategic partnership rooted in sustainability, technology, and co-creation.

The Pavilion reflected this evolution. It was also a model of effective public-private collaboration, blending diplomacy, culture, and commerce without feeling transactional. In a crowded field of national showcases, India’s clarity of narrative stood out.

Sustainability Beyond the Spotlight

Sustainability was not treated as a closing chapter but was embedded in the Expo’s afterlife. Facilities were designed for reuse. Materials were tracked, listed, and redistributed.

Near the end of the Expo, visitors learned that parts of the iconic Grand Ring would be reused in disaster-affected regions. For many, this transformed the structure from a symbol of celebration into one of solidarity and an architectural reminder that large-scale events can serve communities long after the crowds disperse.

Approximately 3,300 cubic meters of the Ring were earmarked for areas like Noto in Ishikawa Prefecture and Namie in Fukushima. Meanwhile, the Circular Market “Myaku-ichi” listed 8,400 items, auctioning nearly 4,900 and establishing a working model for resource circulation.

Numbers That Tell a Different Story

Behind the spectacle and symbolism, Expo 2025 also demonstrated disciplined governance and financial viability.

Construction costs totalled JPY 235 billion, with operating expenses estimated at JPY 116 billion. Ticket sales and related income covered these costs, and the Expo closed with a projected surplus of JPY 32–37 billion, pending final settlements.

Licensed merchandise exceeded expectations, generating JPY 124.6 billion in sales and contributing nearly JPY 6 billion to the Expo Association. These figures challenged long-held assumptions that mega-events inevitably bleed public funds.

A Declaration for What Comes Next

As the gates closed, Expo 2025 left behind more than memories. The “Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai Declaration” distilled its vision into a shared framework for future collaboration, policy thinking, and community action.

It was a reminder that the Expo was never meant to end on October 13 and the ideas inculcated were designed to travel into boardrooms, classrooms, city halls, and homes.

From Osaka to the world, the message endures: the future is not inherited but it is designed, together.