2025 Expo Osaka: Nonsmoking Rule Not Being Observed at Expo Site; Contradicts Fair’s Themes of Life, Health

By Jo Ishibuchi and Akira Inohara / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writers

16:37 JST, April 22, 2025

OSAKA — The nonsmoking rule is not being followed consistently at the 2025 Osaka-Kansai Expo site.

Some people have been seen smoking near ashtrays placed outside certain pavilions. The Japan Association for the 2025 World Exposition, which has banned smoking at the site as the Expo is centered around the theme of life, is struggling to find ways to handle the issue.

A red ashtray was placed discreetly in the shadow behind one foreign pavilion. Four men wearing access passes for people involved with the event began to smoke while chatting on Friday morning. Another ashtray was also found near a different foreign pavilion.

As the Expo promotes the themes of life and health, the association has totally banned smoking at the Expo site on the artificial island of Yumeshima in Konohana Ward, Osaka, requiring both visitors and pavilion operators to adhere to the rule.

Two smoking areas have been set up outside the East Gate, which is connected to Yumeshima Station on Osaka Metro Co.’s Chuo Line. However, it takes time to go back and forth between these areas and inside the venue.

“I understand it’s the rule, but it’s still quite inconvenient,” a 49-year-old male smoker who works at a merchandise store in the venue said. “I can understand why some people secretly smoke.”

Smoking in the venue poses the risk of causing an accident. Yumeshima is built on reclaimed land, the western part of which is made up of incinerated ash from waste materials that could emit methane gas.

A spark ignited methane gas while bathrooms were being constructed on the west side of the venue last year, causing an explosion. Explosive levels of gas were detected underground in the western area during the rehearsal conducted just prior to the Expo’s opening.

Some within the association are proposing the creation of smoking areas in safe places that are strictly separated from nonsmoking areas.

“We want to find a way to accommodate both smokers and nonsmokers,” a senior association official said.