is an upcoming

World Expo A world's fair, also known as a universal exhibition or an expo, is a large international exhibition designed to showcase the achievements of nations. These exhibitions vary in character and are held in different parts of the world at a specif ...

organised and sanctioned by the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE), which will be held in

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of ...

, Japan. It will take place for six months during 2025, opening 13 April 2025 and closing 13 October 2025. This will be the third time Osaka hosts a World Expo, having previously hosted Expo 1970 and

Expo 1990 An expo is a trade exposition. It may also refer to: Events and venues * World's fair, a large international public exposition * Singapore Expo, convention and exposition venue ** Expo Axis, one of the world's largest membrane roofs, construct ...

. The event will return to its traditional 5-year scheduling cycle after the

Expo 2020 Expo 2020 ( ar, إكسبو 2020) was a World Expo hosted by Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, from 1 October 2021 to 31 March 2022. Originally scheduled for 20 October 2020 to 10 April 2021, it was postponed due to the COVID-19 ...

was delayed to 2021 and 2022 due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. The projected visitor count is approximately 28 million.

Theme

The theme for the expo is "Designing Future Society for Our Lives", with sub-themes of "Saving Lives", "Empowering Lives" and "Connecting Lives". The theme "Saving Lives" includes infant

vaccination Vaccination is the administration of a vaccine to help the immune system develop immunity from a disease. Vaccines contain a microorganism or virus in a weakened, live or killed state, or proteins or toxins from the organism. In stimulating ...

sanitation Sanitation refers to public health conditions related to clean drinking water and treatment and disposal of human excreta and sewage. Preventing human contact with feces is part of sanitation, as is hand washing with soap. Sanitation syste ...

, lifestyle (

diet Diet may refer to: Food * Diet (nutrition), the sum of the food consumed by an organism or group * Dieting, the deliberate selection of food to control body weight or nutrient intake ** Diet food, foods that aid in creating a diet for weight loss ...

and exercise) and extending lifespans.

Pavilions

International Organizations

* * * * * International Solar Alliance * ITER * Pacific Islands Forum *

Directors

The directors of the expo were announced on 23 May 2019 and include Hiroyuki Ikeda, Kengo Sakurada,

Hirofumi Yoshimura is a Japanese politician currently serving as the Governor of Osaka Prefecture. He assumed office in April 2019. He has been described as a conservative. Early life Yoshimura was born in the Osaka suburb of Kawachinagano. He studied law at K ...

(Governor of Osaka), and

Ichirō Matsui is a Japanese businessman and politician who is the current mayor of Osaka, leader of the Osaka Restoration Association (ORA) and one of the presidents of Nippon Ishin no Kai alongside Nobuyuki Baba. Early life Matsui attended public elementary ...

(Mayor of Osaka), with Hiroyuki Ishige as the secretary general, and Hiroyuki Takeuchi and Manatsu Ichinoki acting as vice secretaries general. The current Chairman and Representative Director of the Japan Association for the 2025 World Exposition is Masakazu Tokura, Chairman of the

Japan Business Federation The is an economic organization founded in May 2002 by amalgamation of Keidanren (, Japan Federation of Economic Organizations, established 1946; name sometimes used alone as abbreviation for whole organization) and Nikkeiren (, Japan Federatio ...

. He has been the Chairman and Representative Director of the Japan Association for the 2025 World Exposition since June 2021.

Bidding, selection and ratification of Expo city

Ratification

The registration dossier for Japan's expo containing a detailed plan with proposed operational dates (13 April to 13 October 2025) and legacy plans has been submitted to the BIE for review.

Candidates

On 22 November 2016,

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

submitted to the BIE its candidature to host World Expo 2025. This first submission launched the bidding process for this Expo by opening the candidate list. All other countries wishing to organise World Expo 2025 had until 22 May 2017 to submit their own bids, after which the project examination phase started. * Baku,

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of t ...

– The Azerbaijani capital entered its candidacy before the deadline under the theme "Developing Human Capital, Building a Better Future". *

, Japan – Osaka made its official bid for the Expo on 24 April 2017 with the theme "Designing Future Society for Our Lives". *

Yekaterinburg Yekaterinburg ( ; rus, Екатеринбург, p=jɪkətʲɪrʲɪnˈburk), alternatively romanized as Ekaterinburg and formerly known as Sverdlovsk ( rus, Свердло́вск, , svʲɪrˈdlofsk, 1924–1991), is a city and the administra ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

– The Russian city entered its candidacy on 22 May 2017 under the theme "Changing the World: Innovations and Better Life for Future Generations".

Withdrawn candidates

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

– France, which had been the first to declare its candidacy under the theme "Sharing our Knowledge, Caring for our Planet," withdrew its candidacy on 21 January 2018 due to financial concerns and

protests against Emmanuel Macron Since Emmanuel Macron was elected President of France on 7 May 2017, a series of protests have been conducted by trade union activists, left-wing activists and right-wing activists in opposition to what protesters consider to be neoliberal po ...

Vote

A secret ballot took place to select the winner at BIE's 164th General Assembly on 23 November 2018. The first ballot awarded 85 votes to Osaka, 48 votes to Yekaterinburg and 23 votes to Baku, which meant that Baku was eliminated. The second round ballot resulted in 92 votes for Osaka and 61 for Yekaterinburg.

References

External links

*
BIE Paris World Expo 2025 microsite

Osaka 2025 bid (archival)
{{List of world's fairs of East Asia 2025 festivals 2025 in Japan Culture in Osaka Scheduled events World's fairs in Osaka