Seiji’s mom gives us her firsthand account.

The 2025 Osaka-Kansai World Expo is now underway, and with an event of this magnitude, you can be sure we’re here to bring you coverage that you won’t find anywhere else. Naturally, we sent our ace reporter Mr. Sato on the very first day to tell us all about it. However, in the grip of expo fever, he was so excited that he accidentally took all his video with his camera set to inward.

▼ Mr. Sato checking out the Panasonic Pavilion

▼ Mr. Sato spotting a statue of Myaku-Myaku

▼ Mr. Sato looking up in awe at both the Australian and Swiss Pavilions

However, in the few correctly oriented shots he took, we could see that there was a huge crowd there on opening day despite the nagging rain and a two-hour line-up that stretched all the way to the nearest station.

That was actually a little surprising because a lot of buzz on social media has been describing the event as a disappointment and unable to draw flies. And just as Mr. Sato’s Osaka-born colleague Seiji Nakazawa was pondering the situation back in Tokyo, his phone vibrated, notifying him of a text from his mother.

▼ Seiji’s Mom (the kanji character for “mother” covering her face): “I came to the Expo!”

It turned out Seiji’s mother was also eager to see the international exposition early and headed there only a few days after the opening. Her message was accompanied by a photo of her standing in front of the Grand Ring, a wooden structure with a circumference of two kilometers that stands as the symbol of the event.

As Seiji looked at the photo of his happy mom, he noticed something peculiar. There was only a sparse scattering of people both on top of the Grand Ring and along the path beneath it, lending credit to the Internet rumors.

Seiji showed Mr. Sato, who said that the place she took the photo was a little far from the entrance so it was hard to say if the whole venue was devoid of people. Seiji started to worry that if it really was as crowded as Mr. Sato experienced, his mom’s aging body might not be able to navigate the seas of people. He decided to ask her for more details.

▼ Seiji: “Are there not many people? I heard the lines were crazy.”
Seiji’s Mom: “Only the places that take reservations.”

Not only did his mother not answer his pressing question of whether the place was crowded or not, the answer she gave seemed to defy logic. Why would only the places that take reservations have crazy lines?

Seiji told her about Mr. Sato’s experience and showed her the picture he took there, to which she replied, “About 30 minutes.”

She was clearly a woman of few words, but it was enough to start giving Seiji a grasp of the situation. While 30 minutes is still a long time to wait, it’s only a fraction of the two hours that Mr. Sato stood there for, so the Expo was likely still a big draw but not enough to be a burden on her.

Since Seiji’s mom was no J.R.R. Tolkien, he asked her to instead use the 1,000 words pictures are known to say. She showed him images of bustling pavilion interiors and line-ups for the escalator to the top of the ring. On the other hand, there were also scenes with unoccupied benches and generally enough room to move about freely.

He cross-referenced them with Mr. Sato, who said it looked significantly less crowded than four days earlier when he was there. The fact that Mr. Sato went on a day with miserable weather whereas Seiji’s mom was enjoying a sunny day is also relevant when comparing the attendances.

Afterward, Seiji was able to learn that his mother could get into the Mitsubishi Pavilion as well as the national pavilions of the Netherlands, Canada, and Poland all by reservation. Some other places she wanted to see like the USA Pavilion were too crowded and had wait times of 90 minutes even on a weekday, but pavilions that didn’t require reservations were rather easy to get into.

At least it seemed like there was enough to see and do with enough space that Seiji’s mom could have a really good time. And when all is said and done, isn’t that what the Expo is all about?

Photos ©SoraNews24
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