As the gates of the Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, (Japan) opened this spring, visitors from around the globe are once again flocking to Japan’s vibrant port city for a glimpse of tomorrow. From the pixelated skin of the UK pavilion to the spectacular tent-like designs of Kengo Kuma for the Qatar pavilion, innovative architecture and design, as well as eye-popping immersive art and mouth-watering food are on display – all with the common goal of achieving a thriving and sustainable planet and society. But this event is also important for its historical precedent – the groundbreaking Expo 1970 Osaka, (Japan) that first helped Japan take the world stage as a technological powerhouse. The earlier Expo, held during Japan’s economic miracle and only 25 years after the end of World War II, wasn’t merely an exhibition but a bold declaration of the nation’s rebirth and its ambitious vision for an urban future. The 1970 event – with its theme of progress and harmony for mankind – drew an astonishing 64 million visitors over six months, making it one of the most successful world’s fairs in history and cementing its status as a watershed moment for Japan’s postwar identity.
Master-planned by architectural legend Kenzō Tange, the entire landscape of the Expo 1970 embodied the principles of the design philosophy known as “Metabolism,” Japan’s most significant contribution to 20th century architectural theory. The Metabolists, including Tange, Kishō Kurokawa, and Kiyonori Kikutake, mimicked the biological metabolic process in their designs and envisioned cities as living organisms capable of growth and adaptation rather than static structures. At Expo 1970, this philosophy materialized most dramatically in the Symbol Zone’s massive “Space Frame” roof – one of the largest and most advanced of its kind at the time – hovering over the Festival Plaza like a technological canopy. The site itself functioned as a “simulation of the future city,” with moving pedestrian walkways branching from the central Festival Plaza to various pavilions, embodying the organic, adaptable urban flow that defined Metabolist thinking.
Beyond the exhibition grounds, the Metabolist vision extended to individual pavilions and prototypes that continue to influence architecture today. Kurokawa’s Takara Beautillion and Capsule House pavilions presented modular living units that could be plugged into larger infrastructural frames – a concept later realized in Tokyo’s iconic Nakagin Capsule Tower, where individual living pods could theoretically be replaced as technology evolved. (The Nakagin Capsule Tower was eventually disassembled in 2022.) While many of these radical Metabolist dreams went unrealized (the floating cities and plug-in megastructures remained largely on paper), their vision of adaptable, technology-integrated urban spaces presaged our contemporary smart cities. The Expo was a pioneering showcase and laboratory for these ideas.
The technological innovations on display throughout the pavilions at Expo 1970 were equally revolutionary, and their influence resonates profoundly in today’s world. NTT’s Electronics and Telecommunications pavilion introduced visitors to “The Dream Telephone” – bulky white handsets that allowed users to make calls from anywhere on the Expo grounds while seated in transparent plastic “eggs.” This represented one of the world’s first public demonstrations of mobile telephone technology. Though the technology bears little resemblance to our sleek smartphones, it helped kickstart the mobile communication revolution we now carry in our pockets.
Elsewhere, visitors experienced the debut of the IMAX film format at the Fuji Group Pavilion (screening the Canadian-produced, Japan-set documentary “Tiger Child”), while the Sanyo Pavilion showcased futuristic lifestyle concepts including a prototype “Ultrasonic Bath” (essentially a human washing machine) and a “Health Capsule” carefully and ergonomically engineered to provide unparalleled rest in any position. Perhaps most impressively, the entire Expo operated on a networked computer system that tracked visitor flow, located missing children, and managed traffic patterns – essentially functioning as the operating system for a city-scale device – a precursor of today’s smart urban infrastructure by decades.
While the Expo 1970 showcased technology’s power to transform human life, the 2025 exhibition shifts focus to how innovation can heal and protect our planet – reflecting how priorities have evolved across generations. Returning to Osaka this year, the Expo 2025 features an extraordinary array of architectural and technological marvels that showcase humanity’s most innovative responses to environmental challenges, with sustainability as the driving force behind virtually every pavilion and exhibit.
Acclaimed architect Sou Fujimoto’s monumental “Grand Ring” serves as the Expo’s centerpiece. Created mostly with sustainable Japanese cedar and cypress, the dramatic circular promenade with a circumference of about two kilometers is officially the world’s largest timber structure. Fujimoto drew inspiration for the structure from the architecture and carpentry of ancient Japanese temples and shrines while utilizing modern engineering to create a structure that will change with the seasons thanks to integrated green roofs. Within the Grand Ring, which Fujimoto created as a symbol of unity, four distinct event facilities host different functions from diplomatic meetings to cultural performances.
Among the national pavilions, several stand out for their ecological vision. The German Pavilion, designed by LAVA Architects, explores the concept of circular economy through the playful guidance of mascots called “The Circular,” with more than fifty sustainable innovations including green hydrogen hubs and cellular agriculture on display. The Japan Pavilion, built on the theme “Between Lives” and designed by Nikken Sekkei, symbolizes “circulation – an eternal connection without a beginning or end,” comprises a circular wooden structure constructed from hundreds of reusable wooden planks, featuring its own biogas plant.
Inside the EARTH MART pavilion – a thatched-roof structure designed by renowned architect Kengo Kuma – visitors can explore “the cycle of lives” through food culture and the sense of gratitude and wisdom underpinning Japanese food culture. The exhibition includes the “Marketplace of Life,” where the lifetime consumption of everyday foods appears in striking installations – including a chandelier-like structure of 28,000 eggs representing what an average Japanese person consumes in a lifetime. The pavilion also features the “EARTH FOODS 25,” a selection of sustainable Japanese ingredients that demonstrate how traditional food practices can address contemporary environmental challenges. Visitors will receive coupons for freshly prepared umeboshi (pickled plums) that will be redeemable in 2050, creating a “food time capsule” and a quarter-century connection between present consumption and future sustainability.
For visitors to pause between technological wonders, they can visit the Forest of Tranquility which spreads across 2.3 hectares with 1,500 trees, including the Japanese blue oak, maple, and snowbell. Some of these specimens were transplanted from the original Expo 1970 site, creating a living bridge between these two landmark events. The dialogue between these Expos, separated by 55 years but united by location, offers a rare opportunity to witness how yesterday’s futuristic vision has evolved into today’s sustainability goals, and how today’s innovations might transform tomorrow’s reality.
