The centerpiece of Expo 2025 was the Grand Ring, a massive circular wooden roof structure designed by architect Sou Fujimoto that enclosed the entire 155-hectare site. Certified by Guinness World Records as the world's largest wooden architectural structure at 61,035 square meters, the ring served as shade canopy, observation corridor, and organizing principle all at once. Three thematic districts radiated beneath it -- Connecting Lives, Empowering Lives, and Saving Lives -- each housing national pavilions from around the world. The Osaka Wood Association had proposed in 2021 that the ring be built from domestic timber, and the finished structure married ancient Japanese wood-building tradition with contemporary engineering. At its heart sat a contemplative space called the Silent Forest, a deliberate pause within the spectacle. From above, the ring read as a clean circle dropped onto the rectangular island, a geometric statement visible from altitude.

Yumeshima -- literally "Dream Island" -- is an artificial island built from reclaimed land in Osaka Bay, in the city's Konohana ward. Reaching it required a 3.2-kilometer extension of the Osaka Metro Chuo Line, bored through the Yumesaki Tunnel from Cosmosquare Station. The new Yumeshima Station opened on January 19, 2025, less than three months before the Expo. Private cars were banned from the island during the event; visitors arrived by train, shuttle bus, hydrogen fuel cell ship, or bicycle. In practice, more than 76 percent of visitors funneled through Yumeshima Station, creating bottlenecks that organizers struggled to manage. The island's Water World district faced Osaka Bay's south shore, where evening visitors watched the sun set over the Seto Inland Sea from atop the Grand Ring. Green World, on the western edge, offered flying car demonstrations and open-air event space.

Expo 2025 was expected to draw 28.2 million visitors over its six-month run, averaging 150,000 per day. The reality unfolded differently. Opening day on April 13 brought 146,426 visitors, but digital ticketing systems failed at the entrance gates, and afternoon rain sent crowds rushing toward the single metro station. In the weeks that followed, daily attendance dropped to between 40,000 and 90,000. Pre-opening polls had been bleak: an Asahi Shimbun survey found 81 percent of respondents had no intention of attending, and 86 percent disapproved of using public funds for the event. But the expo found its footing. By late May, daily numbers regularly exceeded 150,000. The 10-millionth visitor arrived on June 29, the 78th day. By September, attendance routinely surpassed 200,000 per day, and ticket sales cleared the 18-million break-even threshold. The final count -- 29,017,924 visitors -- exceeded the original target.

Several performances at Expo 2025 earned Guinness World Records. A brass band of 12,300 musicians marched through the Grand Ring to claim the title of world's largest marching band. A drone show on opening day deployed 2,500 drones to create the largest aerial tree display ever formed by multirotors. The Magical Dances of Water and Air installation used 300 fountains that responded to visitors' gestures across 2,100 square meters. On the evening of July 26, a Bon Odori dance brought together over 3,900 participants from 62 countries. Meanwhile, the expo's mascot Myaku-Myaku -- initially polarizing when revealed in 2022 -- became one of the event's biggest draws. Visitors lined up to visit Myaku-Myaku House, where an animatronic version of the creature greeted fans. The mascot's name, chosen from 33,197 public submissions, was meant to evoke the inheritance of history, tradition, and global connection.

Expo 2025 was the second world's fair hosted by Osaka Prefecture, fifty-five years after Expo '70 in nearby Suita. That 1970 exposition is remembered as a landmark of postwar Japanese confidence, and its legacy -- Suita's Expo Commemoration Park, Taro Okamoto's Tower of the Sun -- still draws visitors. The 2025 edition carried a different burden. Osaka won the hosting rights in November 2018, beating Yekaterinburg and Baku in a two-round vote at the Bureau International des Expositions. Paris had withdrawn its bid earlier that year, citing financial concerns after securing the 2024 Olympics. Under the theme "Designing Future Society for Our Lives," the expo aligned itself with the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals and Japan's Society 5.0 vision of a post-information-age civilization. Whether the island infrastructure will sustain a lasting legacy remains an open question, but for six months in 2025, Yumeshima held the world's attention.