Inside Expo 2025 Osaka: 230,000 Visitors a Day
On its busiest day, Walt Disney World can welcome roughly 85,000 visitors. Expo 2025 Osaka was averaging 230,000 visitors a day.
That scale is difficult to understand until you see it. The Expo brought nations, organizations, and millions of visitors together around ideas, culture, innovation, and the possibilities of international cooperation.
The World Expo USA Pavilion welcomed 318 guests from the U.S.-Japan Sister Cities International Summit for a tour and reception. Our 90 Youth Ambassadors had already given tours to more than one million people during their six months at the Expo, serving as the human face of the United States for visitors from around the world. The USA Pavilion was also voted the best of the Expo’s 161 pavilions.
The buildings and technology were remarkable, but what stayed with me was the role of the Youth Ambassadors. Visitors may arrive curious about an exhibit, but they remember the person who welcomed them, answered a question, shared a story, or made them feel at home. That is citizen diplomacy at its most immediate.
A world expo can look like a celebration of national achievement. At its best, it is also an exercise in curiosity. Every pavilion asks visitors to step briefly into another culture and consider a different view of the future.
The USA Pavilion helped launch the spirit of America250 for the U.S. Department of State while showing what our country can contribute through innovation and openness. Our young ambassadors demonstrated something equally important: the ability to connect.
At a gathering of 230,000 people, the most meaningful exchange can still happen one conversation at a time.
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