The curtain falls on the Osaka World Expo, with 27 million visitors

Three years after Dubai, "Expo 2025" was held on the artificial island of Yumeshima in Osaka (western Japan), with an imposing wooden "Great Ring" 2 km in circumference and 20 m high surrounding the national pavilions as its emblem.

This immense structure will be dismantled, but a 200-meter section will be preserved on site, according to the organizers. As a sign of its popularity, a high school student launched a petition—signed by 7.000 people—to save the entire structure. The pavilions of the participating countries will be dismantled by February 2028.

The event enjoyed unexpected popular success with more than 27 million visitors, including 22 million tickets sold, according to official figures.

And despite financial difficulties related to construction costs, an unmotivated business world, the initial disinterest of the general public, and a very relative media appetite, this remains below the record of 64 million visitors of the Shanghai Expo 2010.

Martian meteorite and artificial heart

Organized since 1851 (the 1889 World's Fair left the Eiffel Tower in Paris as its legacy), the Universal Exhibitions offer participating countries the opportunity to compete through the architecture of the pavilions and the presentation of their cultures and technologies.

In Osaka, a Martian meteorite and a beating artificial heart grown using stem cells were among the star attractions.

While many countries boasted technological innovations, the French pavilion housed statues by Rodin, an Aubusson tapestry in the style of the Ghibli animation studio, a gargoyle from Notre-Dame... Draped in white, it attracted 4,6 million visitors.

Its general commissioner, Jacques Maire, expressed to AFP "real satisfaction", while recalling the "difficulties in selling" the event.

The pavilion was largely co-financed by several partners, such as the luxury giant LVMH, Vins d'Alsace, and the insurer Axa.

"We can't show a suitcase or a dress to present our products. We chose an artistic proposition," with a film shown to visitors, "which adds to the brand's recognition, to our image, it adds to all our strengths" in Japan, Thomas Buberl, CEO of AXA, told AFP.

This is an opportunity to strengthen its visibility in a Japanese market where it remains a minority compared to Japanese insurers, while being one of the largest French firms established in the archipelago. It is showing significant growth in life insurance, against a backdrop of a rapidly aging population and increased healthcare needs, explains Mr. Buberl.

The next World Expo is scheduled for 2030 in Riyadh (Saudi Arabia).