Myaku Myaku is the official character of the Osaka Expo and well loved by everybody.
Look how cute the tail of Myaku Myaku is!
I recently went to Osaka Expo 2025. I think it was a good timing - the weather wasn't as hot as summer, and it's not yet the ending month. We bought the tickets online, and tried to reserve for pavilions we liked but we didn't get lucky with the lottery. Even the on-the-day lottery, we didn't get picked. But still, we enjoyed the non-reservation pavilions.
Our scheduled time to enter was 11am, but we were already there past 9am. They're doing crowd control, so we had to wait under the heat to enter. We brought foldable chairs with us and an umbrella so while waiting for movement, we could sit and rest. There's movement even from when we arrived so before 11am, some in the crowd were already ushered inside. Our group entered the expo site at exactly 11am.
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reservation only pavilions
We figured it would be best to buy souvenirs now than during the closing period as it would be crowded. It was also advantageous for me because I got to buy the stamp booklet that I would need for the day.
Empowering Lives Zone
The first area to welcome you when coming from the East Gate is the Empowering Lives Zone. It's probably the largest zone of all, housing more than 20 countries, including the ones inside Commons A.
The Philippines' Pavilion
Our first stop was the Philippines' pavilion. It wasn't in my bingo card to visit my home country's pavilion but my companions wanted to. I was with my partner's family, and my partner's sister is half Filipino, half Japanese so we're here to see her roots too.
It wasn't a long wait to get inside, probably 30mins to an hour. Other pavilions were worse.
The pavilion's theme is Nature, Culture & Community - Woven Together for a Better Future and the design is mostly woven rattan pieces. This design won the Silver Award for Exhibition Design! While waiting, we were able to sit in a rattan chair that's part of the building design.
The first section inside was a showcase of woven textiles and a short video where you could hear and feel the Philippines.
Going further inside was a showcase of the different provinces in the Philippines. I really appreciate they put where the province is in the map because my companions were asking where their roots are.
There's also a dance with nature area where you move and a nature version of you will do the same. It changes from flowers to fruits to something else. My partner's niece was having her time of her life in there.
There's an AI photo booth that we lined up for a long time. It will generate a Filipino version of your with a background of your choosing. I chose fishes as my portrait background. They took a photo of my face with different angles. The result was shocking because it didn't look like me at all! I'm a Filipino, hello..?!
Before leaving there was a souvenir section but not a lot of things were displayed there. They should add chicharon! π I got myself an ube polvoron, which made my partner's sister curious so she got herself a set of 3 pieces too. It was hard to explain what polvoron is so I just told her you'd know once you taste it. π
Before we went out, we made sure to collect the stamps! My first stamp in my expo booklet was from my home country. I was so thrilled! My partner's niece already had her expo booklet stamped before but since it was her first time in this pavilion, she also got to collect the stamp with me.
Outside, there's a long queue to buy Filipino food. I could smell the lechon from faraway but we're off to another pavilion. No Filipino food this time.
Connecting Lives Zone
Since the niece didn't have lots of stamps in this zone in the north, we went here looking for something to add to her stamp book. Before we chose a place to enter, we were greeted by a special dance performance in the open area stage. It was a group of lovely ladies in their cute and feminine attires, serenading the crowd with their graceful moves.
After the performance, we decided to go inside Commons F. There are a bunch of Commons in the entire expo, and inside are some countries that don't have their own pavilion. It was a good opportunity to collect stamps here because of the many countries in one area.
Inside Commons F was Kazakhstan and Brunei. They're both humble displays of their country.
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We then went inside Turkiye's Pavilion. I especially like their big moon display. There was a big face talking which was kinda scary at first but he's very informative. They showcased their hot air balloons in here too. Their souvenirs were amazing and full of colors but it's out of my budget to buy one.
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We passed by Thailand's pavilion and had to drop by only to take a photo of the elephant display.
Next to it was the Australia pavilion where we watched a live performance of Mark and Jay O'Shea. They were so great! I like this concept of Australia where they had prepared tables and chairs for people to watch their performances outside the pavilion. While some people were queueing to go have a peek inside the pavilion, we're out here enjoying some good music.
We've seen a lot of pavilions with long wait and that discouraged us into queueing. We didn't want to spend so much time waiting in line so we had to choose where to go very carefully. But the designs of the pavilions were really well thought! Korea's pavilion was so futuristic and probably had the longest wait of all we've seen.
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The Grand Ring
Before sunset, we visited the grand ring to see a bigger perspective of the expo site. From here, it was really so wide and one day isn't enough to cover the entire expo.
I thought of circling the entire grand ring but when I saw how far it goes, umm, nevermind.
I was imagining there would be rest spaces in the grand ring but apparently you're not even allowed to sit here. We enjoyed the sunset, took photos and went down.
Saving Lives Zone
It was by miracle that we entered Commons D in just a short wait. Inside there were lots of countries so the niece and I were having a time of our lives in our stamp books. Compared to the first Commons I entered, this one is larger so it housed a lot of countries, probably 10 or more.
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They have a main display for their country and a separate area for souvenirs. I think it's somewhat organized and neat.
One staff from Nigeria wrote a "thank you" in their language on my niece's stamp book. He was so kind in explaining to us their language.
Pakistan had another line to go inside their section so I bet it was good. Most of the countries here almost have the same colorful culture which I loved! I wish I knew where these countries are in the world map.
The niece had a good time playing instruments here like the drums in most of the countries. And in one country's exhibit, there was this mancala where we tried to play but seems like we have different rules. π
Signature Zone
It was dark when we came out of Commons D and we're now heading to our next pavilion. While we're choosing where to go next, we saw the fireworks being set and while it wasn't the best view, we could see it clearly from where we were that we decided to sit and rest enjoying the view. It was a short fireworks show but it was so nice! Later on while walking around, we saw a drone show!
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Jellyfish Pavilion
Our next pavilion was a request from the niece. She enjoyed it on her first visit and wanted it to show to us. So here we were at the Playground of Life: Jellyfish Pavilion. It was by reservation but we're lucky to be able to get in. And yes, it's a popular pavilion for kids and kids at heart.
My partner's niece was having so much fun with me showing all the things that she had tried here before. I was also having fun with her, roaming around, trying all sorts of stuff, while our other companions were sitting in the rest area. There's a squishy structure that will make a sound and light up when you try to squish it. It was so soft and irresistible!
Before leaving, one of my companions told us to follow the crew. That crew led us on the basement and it was an encounter different from what was on the first floor.
Here at the basement were 2 acts. The first one was all about hearing. The lights were off - it was completely dark. All you could rely on was your hearing. We could hear different kinds of sounds including a tribe passing by.
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The next act was a surround display of many colorful jellyfishes, and later on with the sound of the live band playing in the center, would also react. The ending was a lovely festival from different countries, and we had to join the dance. It was such a wonderful experience, thanks to the perseverance and convincing powers of my partner's niece.
Ending The Visit
We briefly visited the International Organization Pavilion because there was no wait and collected some stamps. We also entered Portugal's pavilion only to find out it wasn't the main one.
Before leaving, we took one last view from the grand ring. It was clearly night time already, lots of people were trying to go home and some pavilions have started to restrict their access to a few people waiting in line. If this is the case, I think the people who bought a night only ticket won't be able to enjoy much inside the pavilion but still could enjoy seeing the designs from walking inside the expo site.
I would have given tips for people planning to come but I wrote this post so late the expo had already finished. π Anyways, I only spent a day there and indeed, it's not enough to explore the entire expo site nor even visit all the pavilions. The popular ones had the longest queues and you'd have to be super lucky to be able to win the lottery of getting a reservation on the reserved only pavilions. But still, I enjoyed a lot especially the stamp collection!
As we were leaving, my partner's niece started to ask what will happen now to the pavilions after the expo. Many of these pavilions will be demolished. I know, it's such a regret but that's how it is. Some maybe will be relocated, hopefully. I think part of the grand ring will be demolished and donated to house construction.
Last expo in Japan was 50 years ago. I'm just glad to be able to visit the expo at least once in my life. I'm not sure if I'll still be around in the next one so to come here and see is such an honor and a memory to keep.
Thanks for reading!
See you around! γγγγγΎγγοΌ
With love,
All photos are taken using my phone unless stated otherwise.