I’ve only just come back from Osaka, but I’m ready to hit the Expo

LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL

I’ve only just come back from Osaka, but I’m ready to hit the Expo

Signs advertising the upcoming World Expo in Osaka have proliferated in the city's different neighborhood for the past few years. | GETTY IMAGES

By Yuko Tamura
Contributing writer

Apr 11, 2025

You’ve probably noticed a lot of chatter about 大阪 (?saka, Osaka) this week. 大阪?関西万博が4月13日に开幕するからです (?saka Kansai banpaku ga shi-gatsu jūsan-nichi ni kaimaku suru kara desu, That’s because the Osaka-Kansai Expo will open on April 13).

Osaka held 麻豆传媒 first World Expo in 1970, and the 2025 edition will mark the first 海の上の万博 (umi no ue no banpaku, Expo on the sea) on an artificial island called 夢洲 (Yumeshima, Yumeshima).

万博のテーマは「いのち輝く未来社会のデザイン」です (Banpaku no tēma wa “Inochi kagayaku mirai shakai no dezain” desu). While the theme of the Expo is officially rendered as “,” a more literal translation might be “Designing a Future Society in which Life Shines.”