Expo 2025 ends with global dialogue on life and sustainability
Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan concluded with a final dialogue on sustainability and innovation. Throughout the event, the Theme Weeks offered a platform for different sections of society to exchange ideas on how to create a better tomorrow.
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00:03a truly global topic to wrap up Japan's Expo 2025.
00:08Six months of activities and debates
00:10anchored by eight thematic weeks,
00:12and with the event's final two theme weeks,
00:15which tackle the world around us.
00:17These theme weeks offer a platform
00:19where different slices of society can exchange ideas
00:21on how to create a better tomorrow.
00:23And everyone has a role to play,
00:25from politicians, to businesses, to academics,
00:28even children.
00:33Become an earth saver.
00:35These young explorers are answering that call
00:37at an event designed especially for them,
00:40part of the Earth and Biodiversity theme week.
00:43By collecting animal species in their adventure map,
00:46they learn about biodiversity and why it matters.
00:49I thought that the panda was really great.
00:54I realized there are so many more animals in the world.
00:58The workshop was designed by thematic project producer Shoji Kawamori,
01:03who is also the mastermind behind the Live Earth Journey Pavilion.
01:07The visionary anime director and artist used childlike wonder
01:12to create an immersive experience celebrating biodiversity.
01:15It's hard to understand when humans live in cities like this,
01:19but when you travel to places around the world,
01:22you can see ecosystems being progressively destroyed.
01:26You can actually feel this damage,
01:29and I created this work with the hope of conveying that many creatures that we don't normally see in a city exist,
01:35and that we are living together with them in this world.
01:38The multi-prong approach blends physical and virtual realities.
01:45An interactive light show uses sound, vibration, and animation to celebrate life in its many forms,
01:51while a VR film puts you in the skin of different creatures,
01:55moving the focus from just humans to all forms of life.
01:59Direct experience is important for the sparkle of life.
02:04To help people feel even a little of that, we move back and forth between the reality and the virtual.
02:14Shifting mindsets through new perspectives is also one of the main goals at the Theme Week's panel discussions.
02:22After a panel on circular policymaking, sustainable fashion leader Matteo Ward stressed the importance of getting diverse actors in the same room.
02:31There's not one single piece of legislation that alone can solve this problem.
02:35There's not one single brand or one single factory, one single technology even,
02:40that can solve the plethora of externalities, environmental and social, that the current fashion system is responsible for.
02:49We need a holistic approach.
02:50An expert in the textile industry's environmental impact, Matteo says Expo 2025 is a chance to include crucial voices in the conversation.
03:00Talking about responsible fashion at global platforms like Expo ZACA is fundamentally important to the resolution of the challenges we're currently facing,
03:09because we get the chance to finally integrate the voices of the global South into the conversation.
03:18Incentivizing every individual to make a positive change is one of the driving forces behind Expo 2025,
03:24in line with the UN's sustainable development goals.
03:27The final theme week takes stock of the progress that's been made on the SDGs and how much work still remains to be done.
03:33The 17 goals set out by the UN to end poverty by 2030 are omnipresent at Expo 2025.
03:41Many national pavilions are designed around them, like the Japan Pavilion, which focuses on responsible consumption and production.
03:49This theme week highlighted Japan's small and medium enterprises working towards achieving the SDGs.
03:54At the SME showcase, Kagawa-based company Raise the Flag demonstrated their innovative headset.
04:01It uses vibrations and AI to help blind people visualize the world around them.
04:07Their tech embodies the central SDG promise to leave no one behind.
04:12Our team has made it our mission to ensure that no one with visual impairments is left behind.
04:19The devices we are currently developing are something that doesn't exist anywhere else in the world.
04:26We want to send that from Japan and deliver our devices to the entire world.
04:33And this is a mission that echoes the theme of the What Changes the World discussion,
04:38where Expo 2025's Best Practices winners proved that even the simplest idea can transform lives.
04:44So we took a backpack and we took a desk and we put them together so that students could have a comfortable space anywhere.
04:51The design is intentionally made very simple so that it can be implemented fast,
04:56it could be learned fast, and it could be used again and again rather than a one difficult solution.
05:01Nepalese company Educase's signature backpack-turned-desk has changed the lives of thousands of children
05:08in parts of the world where learning is difficult.
05:10The low-tech convention bridges a fundamental gap in education in a way that's accessible for local communities.
05:17The wide variety of panel discussions during the theme weeks represents a shift,
05:22from treating the World Expo as a simple exhibition space to reimagining it as an open forum,
05:27where every visitor has a contribution to make.
05:30The final session debate brought together Expo organizers past and present
05:35to discuss the significance of thematic weeks, which were first introduced in Dubai.
05:40In 2025, Osaka took the themes and they integrated new elements.
05:47They proved that the model is also, the thematic weeks are culturally adaptable.
05:52And again, this was something very, very unique that we hope is just the beginning of something,
05:57you know, that we will continue to take root in World Expos for many years to come.
06:03The world has changed tremendously since Dubai hosted the last World Expo, with rising conflicts
06:09and polarization.
06:11Organizers say in this context, the Expo is more important than ever, as a global public good
06:17that brings about mutual understanding and dialogue.
06:20Some people say that the world is divided, but what is extremely important in this situation
06:29is that this venue symbolizes the Expo of life.
06:34By having many nations stand together here, we hope to provide as many people as possible
06:38with the opportunity to realize that the world is interconnected and that engaging in conflict
06:44is foolish.
06:45I will be very happy if people can feel it.
06:49I think that, you know, theme weeks have become a guiding principle of Expos.
06:53An Expo is never going to solve all of humanity's problems.
06:56But if we take a big issue and we split it into little issues, smaller pieces of this issue,
07:02perhaps an Expo can help us solve a few of those and move us in the right direction.
07:07To cement its legacy, Expo 2025 published a declaration highlighting collaboration as a framework for
07:13the future.
07:14Together, we have shaped the Expo and conveyed to the entire world the message embodied in the grand ring.
07:24Unity in diversity.
07:27At the closing ceremony, attended by hundreds, the feeling was overwhelmingly positive and hopeful.
07:35It's too soon to say how the discussions here have fueled real-world change.
07:39But one thing's for sure, Expo 2025 brought together a multitude of voices in the same place
07:45to work through some of the greatest challenges our world faces.
07:48At the very least, it's a step towards building a future society that will work for all of our lives.
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