Public interest in Osaka Expo remains low 100 days before opening

With 100 days to go before the opening of the World Exposition in Osaka, public interest in the event remains low, with less than one in four people saying they want to visit the site, according to a recent survey.

The latest survey, conducted in October by the Mitsubishi Research Institute on 3,000 people, showed that 24.0 percent of the respondents expressed interest in attending the event in western Japan, a decrease of 3.0 percentage points from the previous survey in April.

File photo taken on Nov. 4, 2024, shows the 2025 World Expo venue under construction in Osaka. (Kyodo)

In the nationwide survey of people in their 20s to 60s, conducted online every six months since 2021, 93.0 percent said they were aware of the exposition.

The expo will be held from April 13 through Oct. 13 on Yumeshima, an artificial island in Osaka Bay.

People in their 20s expressed the strongest interest in the event, with 32.1 percent saying they want to attend, followed by 23.8 percent of those in their 40s, according to the survey. Interest was lowest among people in their 30s, at 19.5 percent.

Regional differences were evident, with residents of Osaka and its surrounding areas showing the strongest interest in the fair. In the Osaka metropolitan area, 36.3 percent expressed interest in attending the event, compared with just 22.0 percent in the Tokyo metropolitan area.

As of late December, 158 countries and regions plan to take part in the event, according to its organizer.