The “Myaku-Myaku”, the mascot of the 2025 Osaka Expo as the Gundam pavilion on the first day of the 2025 Osaka World Expo(Photo by PHILIP FONG/AFP via Getty Images)
AFP via Getty Images
The Osaka World Expo, now in its 55th year and the first global event there since the pandemic, showcases the countries’ art, technology and sustainability-clean energy innovations. Its website states the “Goals of Expo 2025 Osaka Kansai” as: “To contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable development Goals (SDGs); and Achievement of Japan’s national strategy Society 5.0.” It continues until Oct. 25, 2025.
Japan is the fifth largest economy in the world, according to the International Monetary Fund, and has a population of about 123 million people today.
To find out what the Expo is revealing, I spoke with Yvonne Burton, CEO of Burton International Consulting, who is on her umpteenth visit there now and lived in Japan for several years in the past. Her firm specializes in helping Japanese and American businesspeople do business together.
A personal tour through the sustainability lens
Yvonne Burton selfie at Osaka World Expo 2025
Yvonne Burton
Burton described the Expo in detail on an exclusive interview on Electric Ladies Podcast recently, starting with the Osaka World Expo theme: “designing society for future lives.”
She said that theme permeates every aspect of the Expo, from the literal foundation of the Expo buildings and pavilions to the exhibits. “Each country (is) showcasing what they’re doing for our future in technology, healthcare, sustainable living, energy production and conservability,” Burton said. The agreements to participate in the Expo included sustainability-related requirements.
The Japan “pavilion itself is about the circular economy,” she explained, “and the theme is between life and life. So the pavilion and its circular structure is about life and how everything is connected and flows, again, the circular economy.”
Here are a few highlights from the Osaka World Expo Burton shared that might inspire innovation – or a visit:
From Japanese Pavilion at Osaka World Expo 2025 – IMG_0747 – Photo by Yvonne Burton
Yvonne Burton
- Unique wooden structures with no nails: “There’s the grand ring, which is a wooden structure that surrounds the main body of the Expo,” which she described as “about six stories high, completely made of wood that will be recycled after and reused after the Expo is over.” It also has “an elevated walkway,” which “is built most of it with Japanese traditional joinery. So there are no nails used.” She added that “the pavilions, especially the Japan pavilion that I’ve been to, is really focused on sustainability. What Japan is doing, it’s basically a factory that utilizes the waste produced at Expo and turns it into biogas.” And, highlights the use of algae for energy and to reduce CO2 emissions, she said.
- Recycling made easy: “Recycling alone has always been very, very intricate in Japan, even at the home, and because it’s a community-based society, everybody does what they’re supposed to do. So throughout the grounds there are recycling receptacles that are very, very specific so that everything is maintained and separated in accordance to all the rules.” Those rules are quite strict, Burton said, even requiring the labels be torn off plastic water bottles and put in a separate receptacle.
- Lots of wind and solar technology: Japan and other countries are embracing renewable energy, as Burton saw firsthand at the Osaka World Expo. “There’s a lot around wind and of course, solar power. I was surprised at some of the pavilions where that was shown in. Of course, all the Japan pavilions, a lot of the Europeans who have always been about wind power,” she observed. But, even the “desert countries,” she noticed showcased their solar energy and conservation strategies.
Saudi Arabia Pavilion at Osaka World Expo 2025 – Photo by Yvonne Burton
Yvonne Burton
“Saudi Arabia has a spectacular pavilion, and a major part of their exhibit is showing how they’re harnessing, of course, the power of the sun,” she explained. They are exhibiting what’s called their NEOM Green Hydrogen Complex owned by a company of the same name (NGHC), powered by wind and solar plants, and bills itself as “the world’s largest plant producing green hydrogen-based ammonia from renewable energy.” Burton said smaller and less affluent countries showcase their land conservation and environmental protection strategies too.
- Evocative demonstration of the impact of climate change in real time: One of the pavilions that Burton highlighted because it generates a more visceral reaction, is Brazil’s demonstration of what happens to the environment as the planet warms. “It’s kind of scary,” she said and described a bit of how it works this way (and provided more detail in the podcast): “There’s a huge screen that represents the sun and the planet, and it goes through different colors when everything is green, everything is fully flated and in harmony, the top reaching to the bottom and connecting. When they get to the reds and the orange and kind of the violence of climate damage, everything’s deflated and dark. And as you walk through the exhibit, you walk through that…it’s quite interesting, a little bit jarring.” It includes voices and noises, as well as the color changes and things hanging from the ceiling, too, she said. “Then you go through the color changes…it’s just extraordinary.” She also said that staff is there to explain what’s happening.
- Focused on “soft materials” because they do better in earthquakes and disasters: Burton explained that the Japan “pavilion itself is about the circular economy… and the theme is between life and life. So the pavilion and its circular structure is about life and how everything is connected and flows, again, the circular economy.” She reminded us that Japan “is prone to earthquakes and natural disasters, (so they) focus on soft materials,” because, “Soft is durable, soft is flexible and easily repairable,” including bamboo, which bends, but doesn’t break.
That includes the ubiquitous use of “cross laminated timber, CLT,…(which is) easily dismantled and will be repurposed.” She said it’s now being “incorporated into international building codes, …including as “sustainable alternatives for walls, roofs, floors and ceilings. It’s fire resistant and is very durable during seismic events.”
- An extensive Women’s Pavilion highlighting women’s lives with events: The Expo has a large Women’s Pavilion too, sponsored by Cartier, that Burton said tells the stories of various women and activists, “has statistics on the state of gender equality around the world” and hosts well-attended events.
Women’s Pavilion at Osaka Expo 2025 – IMG_6215 – Photo by Yvonne Burton
Yvonne Burton
We each have agency
The Osaka Expo Japanese pavilion in particular also emphasizes that we each have agency, Burton pointed out, which is a good reminder, especially in these chaotic times.
“It asks you, of course, to become a part of this circular solution. And it says, once you leave this pavilion, remember that it all starts with you and the decisions that you make on a daily basis…it’s all our responsibility for the Earth’s sustainability.”
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