Live From the USA Pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka
At the World Expo USA Pavilion in Osaka, visitors could experience what it felt like to launch into space while exploring the innovation taking place across the United States.
Approximately 230,000 people visited the Expo that day alone. The scale was extraordinary, but the deeper purpose of the gathering was human connection. A world expo is a little like the Olympics of people-to-people diplomacy: nations bring forward their ideas and achievements, while visitors move from one culture to another with curiosity.
The Expo also became part of Sister Cities International’s U.S.-Japan Sister Cities Summit. We prepared to welcome 550 participants from 14 countries to discuss the future of U.S.-Japan relations and the role local communities can play in strengthening them.
That local role matters. International affairs can seem distant from everyday life, but city partnerships make them personal. Students meet host families. Educators share practices. Civic leaders compare solutions. Volunteers discover that a relationship between nations can begin with a conversation between two people.
The USA Pavilion highlighted American innovation, but innovation alone does not create trust. Trust grows when people are willing to explain, listen, and learn. The pavilion’s Youth Ambassadors helped turn a national exhibit into a series of individual encounters.
Special thanks to the U.S.-Japan Council, the U.S. Department of State, and the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo for supporting this work.
The most important result of an event this large may not be the number of people who enter a pavilion. It may be the number who leave with a new idea about another country and a greater willingness to stay connected.
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