Mayor Promotes Osaka’s 2025 Expo Bid in Paris

October 10, 2018

Paris- Osaka Mayor Hirofumi Yoshimura pushed the western Japan city's bid to host the 2025 World Expo at a forum hosted by the Japanese government in Paris Tuesday.

"The contents of the Osaka Expo were known by many countries," Yoshimura told reporters, expressing his belief that support for Osaka's bid is spreading.

The 2025 host will be determined by a vote on Nov. 23 of members of the Bureau International des Expositions, or BIE.

The race is "in the final stretch," he said. Osaka's rivals are Russia's Ekaterinburg and Azerbaijan's Baku.

Yoshimura said he sees no negative impact on Osaka's bid from Typhoon Jebi's damage to Kansai International Airport in Osaka Prefecture. The airport is near the proposed Expo site, the artificial island of Yumeshima in the Osaka Bay.

"I've heard no negative reaction (to the typhoon damage). Many people rather told me that the airport was restored quickly," he said. The mayor said he also explained about the Expo site's ability to prevent disasters. Jiji Press