Osaka Expo Visitors Top 2005 Aichi Expo Attendance

Osaka, Sept. 29 (Jiji Press)–The cumulative number of visitors to the 2025 World Exposition in the western Japan city of Osaka has reached some 22.2 million to top the total attendance at the 2005 Expo in Aichi Prefecture, preliminary data showed Monday. A total of 22,205,483 people have visited the Osaka Expo as of Sunday, about two weeks before its closing, according to the data from the Japan Association for the 2025 World Exposition. The figure surpassed some 22.05 million visitors for the Aichi Expo in central Japan. The ongoing event, which opened April 13 for a six-month run, initially struggled to attract people due to a lack of momentum, with the daily number of visitors falling short of 100,000. Visitors began to gradually increase later, thanks to a number of positive reviews posted on social media. More than 200,000 people have visited daily for 17 consecutive days until Sunday. The increase in visitors has led to the Expo venue being packed and people forming long lines in front of pavilions and goods stores, a situation making it necessary for the organizer to put measures to ease the congestion in place. Another challenge facing the association is dealing with people who, despite having tickets, would possibly be unable to enter the Expo venue. While reservation slots are almost full through the final day of the event, the association does not plan to offer refunds for the tickets. On Saturday, the association introduced a rescue system in which unused advance tickets are exchanged for same-day tickets that allow holders to enter the venue after noon. With only hundreds of such same-day tickets available per day, however, many people are left unable to make the exchange even if they want to do so. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]