Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba visited the venue of the World Exposition in Osaka on Sunday to bring attention to the event that is experiencing slower advance ticket sales than organizers expected.
It is the first time since becoming Japan's leader in October that Ishiba has visited the site on the artificial island of Yumeshima, where construction of pavilions and other preparations continue with fewer than three months left until the expo opens.
Yumeshima Station, directly connected to the expo site, opened on Sunday, with over 130,000 people expected to use the new station on the Osaka Metro Chuo Line on a busy day.
A journey from the station to the major Tokaido Shinkansen bullet train station of Shin-Osaka takes about 40 minutes.
Some 7.5 million advance tickets for the expo were sold as of early January, well short of the organizers' target of 14 million.
The Japan Association for the 2025 World Exposition expects 28.2 million visitors during the event from April 13 to Oct. 13, with ticket sales anticipated to cover the event's operational costs.
The site's construction cost has nearly doubled from the initial estimate to 235 billion yen ($1.5 billion), with the central government, the Osaka prefectural and municipal governments and the private sector each bearing one-third.
© KYODO
8 Comments
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virusrex
Fitting, the preparations are going just as well as Ishiba's popularity.
SarcasmOnly
Only guys in favor of this are government officials who get free trips to Japan paid by taxpayers.
sakurasuki
Nice way to show support from Govt, however it can fix low public interest and expo goers.
https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2025/01/a4cc23906afc-public-interest-in-osaka-expo-remains-low-100-days-before-opening.html
https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20241227/p2a/00m/0na/020000c
iron man
As I would have to pay the visitor tax.. are there any corporate suites on the wooden structure roof still available with digi virtual tour? Or are they already committed to intl. gov corporates. This is costing billions of taxpayers bucks! It's not a boxing stadium to exchange political punches.
Matt
Well....there obviously isn't anything else to do in the halls of government today. This is a priority for the PM.
gogogo
The grand ring is a complete copy of apple HQ.
Japantime
The site looks fantastic. Even the PM of Japan is ready for the biggest international event this year. Hopefully we are able to get tickets.
FireyRei
It is a circle, so yes, a complete copy, of a ring-shaped building.
factchecker
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba visited the venue of the World Exposition in Osaka on Sunday to bring attention to the event that is experiencing slower advance ticket sales than organizers expected.
Did he get time for a smoke today?