Photo/Illutration An illustration of the venue for the 2025 Osaka Kansai Expo to be held on Yumenoshima, an artificial island in Osaka Bay (Provided by the Japan Association for the 2025 World Exposition)

With less than two years until the opening of the 2025 Osaka Kansai Expo, anxious organizers are prepared to serve as construction agents for national pavilions so they are completed in time. 

About 50 nations plan to construct their own pavilions for the world's fair, to open on April 13, 2025.

But those pavilions require the approval of the Osaka city government before work can begin and as of July 11, no applications had been filed.

“We believe the most important thing will be to complete construction of all structures to be used by participating nations in time for the opening," Naoki Okada, the minister for the World Expo 2025, said at a news conference that day. "At the same time, it is also desirable that the participating nations construct their pavilions based on their unique designs.”

As the pavilion designs are often complicated, construction companies are hesitant about signing contracts in the event they face higher costs than estimated. 

Other issues revolve around chronic worker shortages and surging materials costs.

According to several sources, an explanatory meeting was held on July 7 for those nations thinking about building their pavilions.

The Japan Association for the 2025 World Exposition has classified the 50 or so nations into four groups.

About 10, including Germany and Switzerland, are the furthest along in working to sign a contract with a construction company.

On the other hand, about 30 nations are considered lagging the furthest behind and the proposal to serve as construction agents was directed at those nations.

The governments will be asked to simplify the pavilion design plan and cover the construction costs, while the organizing committee would handle procedural matters such as signing the contracts with construction companies.

The organizing committee set an Aug. 31 deadline for deciding whether to have the organizing committee act as the construction agent or have the nation proceed with their original construction plan and sign the contract with the construction companies. 

It normally takes about 18 months to complete the construction so work has to begin by this autumn for all pavilions to be ready by the expo's opening.

(This article was written by Kazuhito Suwa, Amane Sugawara and Yuta Ogi.)

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