Visit grand roof ring under construction at Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan.

The construction of the venue for Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan, is accelerating at a rapid pace.
For the first time, I had the opportunity to go behind the scenes at a construction site.

Foreign media also participated in the tour of the Grabd roof ring.

The foreign media from Thailand, Korea, and Italy were with us on this visit to the Grand roof ring.

The main theme of Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan is “Lives”. The design concept of the venue, which aims to address global issues and the sustainable development of humankind, is “diverse yet united”.
It is designed so that visitors can experience the feeling that people with different backgrounds and ideas share one world.
I am very much looking forward to seeing people from all over the world at that venue during the six months it will be held.

©Expo 2025

The circumference of the ring is about 2 km! The symbol of the Expo is huge in scale!

Before going to the site, we first visited Yumeshima Island from Cosmo Tower.

Yumeshima Island can be seen across the ocean. It is now under construction.
If you look carefully at the left side of the island, you will see a grand roof ring.

Finally, we arrived at the site and saw the grand roof ring!

This architectural beauty, with its regular arrangement of pillars, is often seen in Japanese buildings.

The structure will have a diameter of approximately 615 meters and a circumference of approximately 2 km. The scale of the structure makes sense that it will be the largest wooden structure in the world.

A grand roof ring that looks like a work of art.

Next, we walked under the grand roof ring.

The beautifully assembled columns are truly a work of art!

The foreign media who visited with us were also amazed.An Italian person in particular said, “It is very impressive to see such a wonderful wooden structure because most of the buildings in Italy are made of stone”.

This grand roof ring uses the “nuki koho” method, in which lumber is horizontally penetrated between pillars and joined together. Nuki koho is a traditional Japanese construction method used in temples, shrines, and Buddhist temples.

The amazing thing about this building method is that it basically uses no nails.
When the wood is skillfully combined as shown in the photo, the structure becomes resistant to pressure from above and earthquake shaking.
Bolts and nuts are used in some parts to ensure safety, but isn’t it amazing that such a huge structure is created by a combination of wood in the first place?

It must have been carefully made by repeating extremely precise work. This is truly Japanese craftsmanship!

You can walk on the grand roof ring!

Next, we were allowed to go up to the top of the grand roof ring!
Really? Okay, let’s go up!

We climbed a height equivalent to the fourth floor of an apartment building.

This will be an observation walkway called the “Ring Skywalk”. Visitors will be able to walk around the Expo site on this walkway. The completed image looks like the picture below. I can’t wait to walk on it!

Osaka Bay, where Yumeshima Island is located, is one of the few bays in Japan that faces west, offering a beautiful view of the sunset over the Seto Inland Sea.

Overlooking Osaka Bay, this place will surely be the best sunset spot during the Expo.
This is the perfect place to experience the “sea” and “sky” that connect us to the rest of the world!

I learned once again that many people are working hard to make Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan a reality.
This time I visited the grand roof ring, but construction of the overseas pavilion had already started at the venue.

Have you got your Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan tickets yet?

Click here for Osaka/Kansai Expo Ticket Information.

https://www.expo2025.or.jp/en/tickets-index/