Photo/Illutration Work continues on March 7 to construct facilities for the 2025 Osaka Kansai Expo in Osaka. (Takuya Tanabe)

OSAKA—With a month to go before the 2025 Osaka Kansai Expo, Osaka Governor Hirofumi Yoshimura said an advance ticket sale goal for the event is “impossible,” while dozens of pavilions under construction still lack exteriors.

The world expo, which has been plagued by soaring costs and other problems, is scheduled to open on April 13.

The Japan Association for the 2025 World Exposition had set a target of selling 14 million advance tickets. As of March 5, only 8.06 million, or 57.6 percent of the goal, were sold.

Yoshimura, who also serves as deputy chairperson of the association, told reporters on March 13 that the target will not be met.

About 160 countries and regions are participating in the expo, and their pavilions will be a major highlight of the event.

But as of March 10, the exteriors were complete on only 17 percent of Type A pavilions, according to senior officials of the expo association.

Forty-seven participating countries and regions are designing and building their own Type A pavilions at the expo venue. Only eight of the structures had completed exteriors by March 10.

The association took charge of building Type B pavilions on behalf of 13 countries or regions. All 13 have been completed, the association said.

LOGISTICS PROBLEMS

One reason cited for the poor ticket sales is related to the limited access to the reclaimed island of Yumeshima, the venue of the expo.

Visitors can reach the island via a bridge, tunnel or subway line.

A surge in visitor numbers could lead to overcrowding at the venue and its surrounding areas, clogging up subway operations.

To control crowd numbers on particularly popular days, the association set a rule that visitors must make reservations online in advance for specific dates and times.

But this rule led to confusion on how to buy tickets and how to make reservations.

A total of 7.56 million advance tickets had been sold, about half of the goal of 14 million, as of Jan. 15, three months before the expo opening.

Yoshimura and other officials, feeling a sense of crisis, consulted with Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba in February. It was then decided that same-day tickets would be sold for the expo.

However, these tickets will be available only on days when the venue still has the capacity to accept visitors.

The expected number of visitors to the expo is 28.2 million, or about 150,000 people a day.

In comparison, 16 million people visited Universal Studio Japan, a theme park near the expo site, during 2023, for an average of 43,000 a day. That is the third largest number of visitors for a theme park in the world.

Given the low sales for advance tickets, it might be difficult for the expo to attract more daily visitors than USJ.

Of the 116 billion yen ($782 million) in operating expenses, 96.9 billion yen, or more than 80 percent, is expected to be funded by ticket sales.

The Expo 2000 held in Hanover, Germany, suffered a huge deficit, and the German central government and the local government had to use 120 billion yen in tax revenue to cover the gap.

It has not been decided who will cover the deficit if the 2025 Osaka Kansai Expo runs in the red.

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

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