Chef Serves 1,500 VIPs During Expo 2025; Proudly Showcases Japanese Cuisine, Including Food From Quake-Hit Region

By Ryoma Shintani / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

12:25 JST, November 30, 2025

OSAKA — The culinary skills of Rei Watabe, the head chef of the RIHGA Royal Hotels in Kita Ward, Osaka, were on full display during the 2025 Osaka-Kansai Expo as he prepared lunch for more than 1,500 VIPs from participating nations.

The six-month Expo closed on Oct. 13. Watabe devised menus for the event’s Guest House, a facility where Japan welcomed and entertained visiting heads of state, royalty and high-ranking government officials.

The RIHGA Royal Hotels was selected to be in charge of the luncheons through an open call for proposals carried out in August last year by the Japan Association for the 2025 World Exposition. The hotel group also provided cuisine at the Guest House for the 1970 Osaka Expo.

“We were able to deliver Japanese cuisine to the world,” Watabe said.

Utilizing foodstuffs from Ishikawa Pref.

Watabe was appointed head chef for the Guest House because of his experience in handling banquets for hundreds of foreign guests. He crafted the menus to “introduce Japanese ingredients” and consciously focused on using products made in Ishikawa Prefecture, which was battered by the massive Noto Peninsula Earthquake in January last year.

While searching for foodstuffs across the country in October 2024, Watabe witnessed the devastation wrought on a fishing port in the Noto region of the prefecture. This strengthened his resolve to support the quake-affected areas.

He prepared two key courses: “Western cuisine” and “a fusion of Japanese and Western cuisine.” Both featured Kuroge Wagyu beef fillet poeler as the main course.

Seasonal accompaniments included Kaga lotus root and satoimo taro root in Ishikawa Prefecture. The beef was topped with a miso sauce and scented with straw. As an appetizer for the semi-Western course, Watabe used sweet shrimp caught off the coast of the prefecture.

Cheers for the surprise

A dessert linked to the Expo was also created — a circular mousse in the image of the Grand Ring was topped with chocolate replicas of the eyes of the Expo mascot Myaku Myaku. Seasonal fruit grown in Japan was used: strawberries in spring, mangoes in summer and figs in autumn.

The surprise of using the popular character in the dessert went over extremely well. When the lid covering the dessert plate was lifted, cheers could be heard even outside the luncheon venue.

Akiko Sagae, the 42-year-old director of the Czech Pavilion, took part in the Czech National Day luncheon on July 24. Sagae has a Japanese father and a Czech mother and came to Japan from the Czech Republic for the Expo.

“The Wagyu beef was tender and delicious,” she said. “The Grand Ring dessert was full of elements characterizing the Expo, and I was really moved.”

‘Proud days’

Watabe also faced various hurdles in his cooking. Guests from Africa and South America didn’t like rare-cooked beef, for example, and wouldn’t even try it. He adjusted the level of cooking to the guests’ country of origin.

Chicken was served to guests who couldn’t eat beef for religious reasons. There were many other requests as well, and various ingredients were prepared to suit people’s preferences. It was hectic, but Watabe said looking back, “Those were proud days for me as a chef.”

Watabe helped the RIHGA Royal Hotels complete its mission, as it did during the 1970 Osaka Expo, thereby “carrying on the hotel’s tradition.” He plans to compile the Guest House menus and service details into in-house documents, saying, “I hope this wonderful experience can be passed down to our younger chefs.”