The gates of the World Expo will close on Monday, October 13, 2025. Over the past almost six months, they have welcomed over 28 million visitors. The Czech Pavilion welcomed its 1.5 millionth visitor on Friday, October 10. The visitor was a three-year-old Japanese boy with his mother. On average, the Czech Pavilion now receives 12 to 14 thousand visitors daily, while the numbers reach up to 240 thousand for the entire exhibition grounds. EXPO 2025 enjoys considerable popularity among the Japanese, who make up as much as 95 percent of the visitors. All visitor slots have been completely sold out for the last few weeks.
The symbolic counter at the Czech Pavilion stopped on a three-year-old Japanese boy, Shikanosuke, and his mother, Mariho Kamei. “We have visited EXPO 2025 thirteen times already, and today is our last visit. But it’s also our first time at the Czech Pavilion. I really like beer, and Czech beer is famous here, so we couldn’t miss it today. I also think the Czech Pavilion is suitable for both children and adults – everyone can find something for themselves. There are beautiful glass exhibits, and I already knew about the Czech uniforms and mascot from Instagram,” Kamei commented on her visit, adding: “Before I had children, I used to travel a lot. Now it’s not as easy. But EXPO offers a unique opportunity to experience different countries and cultures all in one place. My son loves the exhibition just as much as I do, and more than once we’ve stayed here together until the evening.”
The family received a certificate for being the 1.5 millionth visitor, featuring the national pavilion and mascot René, along with gifts including Czech wafers. They signed the visitor's book and were invited to an afternoon cultural program by the Bonifantes choir. For dinner, they enjoyed kulajda soup, bao buns with duck meat, stuffed dumplings with pork, and a cake with fruit and cream cheese filling.
The 1.5 million visitor mark was reached just six weeks after the pavilion welcomed its millionth visitor on September 2, 2025. Furthermore, a daily record was set for the entire EXPO 2025 on Wednesday, October 8th, with 237,000 visitors to the exhibition grounds. The Czech pavilion now averages 12 to 14 thousand visitors per day.
“Reaching 1.5 million visitors is a huge success and encouragement for us. The Czech pavilion has become a meeting place for people from all over the world, where our culture, creativity, and innovation are interconnected. We greatly appreciate the interest of the public and experts alike – their support confirms that our participation in EXPO 2025 is meaningful and yields concrete results,” says Ondřej Soška, Commissioner General of the Czech Republic's participation in EXPO 2025.
Japanese visitors to the Czech exposition admire the beautiful and imaginative glass sculptures by Rony Plesl and Studio SIN, murals by Jakub Matuška aka Masker, audiovisual elements by Studio Lunchmeat, the Herbarium glass installation by Lasvit, whose twin has been located at the UN headquarters in New York since September of this year, the Crystal Grid glass installation by Preciosa, or also 3D printing from Prusa Research and the mascot René figurines, which they can search for throughout the pavilion. The interactive section on the third and fourth floors and the Czech restaurants on the first and fifth floors, offering typical Czech dishes, are particularly popular. The terrace on the roof of the pavilion is also a favorite place to watch the Japanese organizers' evening Air & Water show; no other pavilion has such an exclusive view.
Furthermore, on Friday, October 10, 2025, the Czech pavilion was recognized by the European Union for its hospitality and received a statuette of the European mascot, Europa.
About the Czech Pavilion at EXPO 2025 Osaka, Kansai
Czechia participated in a world exposition as an independent country for the sixth time. Ondřej Soška served as Commissioner General from September 1, 2022, to March 31, 2026. The pavilion's design — a glass spiral — was the result of an open architectural competition won by Apropos Architects studio in March 2023. The building's load-bearing structure consists of modern CLT (cross-laminated timber) panels, while the façade features art glass, a craft with centuries of tradition in Czechia. The pavilion was built by the Japanese company Daisue Construction in cooperation with Czech subcontractors. The national pavilion provided a fitting home for the Czech presence at EXPO 2025, held from April to October 2025 on the artificial island of Yumeshima in Osaka Bay. The pavilion housed a permanent exhibition, the multifunctional Daisue Hall auditorium, facilities for business meetings, a restaurant, and a CTP lounge. In front of the pavilion, visitors could enjoy a relaxation zone overlooking a water feature with a dancing fountain. Cultural performances took place in Daisue Hall nearly every weekend (Friday through Sunday). The pavilion was successfully approved for occupancy in early April 2025 and became the largest timber structure of its kind without a metal load-bearing frame in all of Japan. It officially opened to the public on April 13, 2025, and closed on October 13, 2025.