Photo/Illutration The venue of the 2025 Osaka Kansai Expo on Yumeshima island is under construction on Oct. 25, 2022. (Satoru Ogawa)

OSAKA—Feline-friendly Osaka Mayor Ichiro Matsui hopes to make the 2025 Osaka Kansai Expo the first one to allow pets, but a number of hurdles stand in the way.

The Japan Association for the 2025 World Exposition, the expo’s organizer, is making adjustments to allow people to enjoy the expo, whose theme is “inochi” (life), with their pets.

However, challenges are piling up, such as how to take care of people with fur allergies, how to handle the pets’ waste, and how to secure the extra funding needed.

Allowing pets at the venue would require an estimated 900 million yen ($6.7 million) in additional expenses to cover costs for personnel, places for the animals and cleanup work.

Katsuhiko Shoji, a professor at Toyo University and an expert on pet tourism, said that giving pets unrestricted access to the expo could cause confusion.

“(But) it is possible (to allow pets) if we devise ways to do so,” he said.

Shoji suggested confirming vaccination records and breeds of the pets beforehand and requiring reservations for visitors to enter the venues with animals.

“It is important to try to allow pets, considering the expo’s theme: designing future society for our lives,” he said.

On the other hand, Hajime Tanida, a professor at Hiroshima University Graduate School who researches relations between humans and animals, expressed doubts about the plan.

He noted that the expo will be held on a man-made island with limited access routes, meaning visitors must use public transportation to reach the venue.

Therefore, pets could be forced to spend long hours in cages in extremely hot weather, “causing them significant mental and physical stress,” Tanida said.

UNPRECEDENTED ISSUE

In summer last year and behind closed doors, the association, the industry ministry and officials of Osaka Prefecture and Osaka city began talks on whether to allow visitors to bring their pets to the venue.

They are now considering letting in only small dogs and cats, and only at the outdoor passage of the venue.

A panel of experts will soon be established to discuss how to implement the plan.

However, the Bureau International des Expositions, headquartered in Paris, has taken a cautious stance on the pet issue because it is “unprecedented.”

The bureau said pets may react to loud noises at the event and lash out at other visitors, creating a safety risk, according to sources familiar with the matter.

Some members in Japan’s expo association have also opposed the idea.

Others suggested setting up a special day called “Wannyan Day” (Bow-wow meow day), on which visitors would be allowed to bring their pets.

But Matsui, who has two cats and insists “pets are family,” said that would not be enough.

He directly brought the matter to Yasutoshi Nishimura, the industry minister.

The mayor also reportedly proposed setting up a pet checkup area at the expo venue.

The association is considering limiting the days and places for the pets.

It also plans to have visitors with pets submit forms that say they will abide by the rules when they enter the venue.

Major theme parks in Japan are split over pets.

Universal Studios Japan and Oriental Land Co., operator of the Tokyo Disney Resorts, allow only guide dogs, service dogs and hearing dogs.

On the other hand, the Huis Ten Bosch theme park in Nagasaki Prefecture opened its doors to dogs and cats, regardless of their size and kind, in May 2010.

Visitors with their pets are asked to agree to 15 rules, including “I will not use the indoor facilities or enter them with pets.”

(This article was written by Itsuki Soeda, Kazuhito Suwa and Shinji Hakotani.)

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