Date: April 21-22, 2025

Since the opening of the Osaka Kansai Expo on April 13, the volunteer activities that have been continuing for 10 days will end with the activity of providing access to the Expo site at Shin-Osaka Station and Namba Station. During these 10 days, I was able to get to know many visitors and fellow volunteers. I was also able to learn not only about the glittering world of the Osaka Kansai Expo, but also about the behind-the-scenes world that is working hard to support the Expo.

In addition, I have organized the information and impressions I learned during the 10 days of activities in the form of a diary for each day. I would like to summarize the information and impressions I gathered throughout the 10 days on the next page.

Date: 19th April 2025

Osaka Kansai Expo2025 has several Medical Facilities (Clinics and First Aid Stations) for visitors who need medical care. Medical Doctors and nurses are always on-site at the Clinics, and only nurses are staffed at the First Aid Stations.

Language volunteers sometimes go into the examination rooms to interpret for medical staff who are not always good at languages. Although I can interpret general English, I was a little unsure when it came to specialized medical terms. However, on the other hand, Medical Doctors can understand specialized medical terms to a certain extent, so we can manage to complete the job safely.

You can check the location of the Medical Facilities here, but unfortunately the signs are a little difficult to find. If you are not sure where it is, please feel free to ask the volunteer staff nearby who are guiding you.

The night scene of the Expo 2025

The view of the Expo during the day is wonderful, but at night, each pavilion is lit up with unique lighting, so it is even more magnificent. Also, as the number of visitors decreases in the evening as visitors by group tours leave, it is relatively easy to get around, so I recommend staying until the evening.

I especially recommend the view from the top of The Grand Ring and Water Plaza, where the light and fountain show and drone show are held. However, since many customers head home after watching the drone show at Water Plaza, the gate on the way back is crowded. The drone show can be seen from near the gate, so I recommend coming to the gate before the drone show starts and watching it from there.

Date: 18th April 2025

Today, I welcomed many guests from overseas directly at Kansai International Airport, where they arrive. Many of the guests heading to the Osaka Expo 2025 were experiencing Japan for the first time, and they had many questions, including how to access the Expo site, as well as where to exchange money at the airport and where to buy daily necessities. In addition, the way to access the East and West gates differs depending on the admission ticket to the Expo site, so we need to pay attention to the directions.

And above all, we also explained to them that guests cannot bring suitcases with carriers to the Expo site, so we need to leave luggages at the hotel or keep them in coin locker at the terminal station before heading to the site.
Of course, not all arriving guests are heading to the Expo site, so we tried to explain as carefully as possible to those heading to other destinations.

Date: 17th April 2025

Today, I volunteered at the Accessibility Center of Osaka Expo 2025. You may not be familiar with the term “Accessibility Center”. Osaka Expo 2025 aims to be an Expo that can be enjoyed easily by all kind of guests including physical disabilities.

For this reason, the Accessibility Center lends out wheelchairs and hearing amplifiers free of charge to guests with walking or hearing disabilities. I provided support for wheelchair rental at the Accessibility Center.

Wheelchairs and hearing amplifiers can be borrowed free of charge, but reservations cannot be made, so on the day of the visiting, you will need to go directly to the Accessibility Center next to the East and West Gates to complete the reception procedure. It was just after the opening of the Expo, and there were still few visitors, but depending on the model of machines, the inventory for rental may be low, and I was a little worried about whether the equipment would function properly even if the number of visitors increased in the future. In the future, I strongly wish improvement such as increasing the number of units in stock will be made.

The Accessibility Center is located outside the entrance gate, and you need to go through the procedures such as loaning before entering the venue. However, when visitors look at the map, it can be considered that it is located exactly on the border, so some people entered without getting a loan, left temporarily and then re-entered, so be careful.

Japan Pavilion

After volunteering, I visited the pavilion of the host government. The exhibits were centered on algae, which is expected to be a future source of many materials such as energy and food, and there were some interesting points, but I personally didn’t like the exhibit that used popular characters to show the diversity of the many algae that exist.

Also, the highlight of the exhibit was a rock from Mars that arrived on Earth as a meteorite, but the controlling flow of visitors in front of the exhibit was not well managed, and the inside of the museum was quite chaotic. Since it is also the pavilion of the host country, I felt that immediate improvement was necessary (I guess it was improved quickly because an acquaintance of mine said that there were no problems when he visited later).

Date: 14th April 2025

Today, my shift is to guide people inside the venue of Osaka Kansai EXPO, mainly on the patio or alley. Not only are the visitors new to the event, but the volunteers are also still new to it, so I often can’t answer customers’ questions right away and have to look up information on websites or resources before I answer.

However, unlike yesterday, today, the weather was good, there were relatively few visitors, and the customers seemed to be enjoying the Expo at a leisurely pace.

It seems that customers are happy when I take my time and have fun looking up answers together with them.