1 Year to Go Before 2025 Osaka-Kansai Expo’s Opening; Shinkansen Adorned with Expo Logo, Mascot Character

The Yomiuri Shimbun

15:58 JST, April 13, 2024

With a year to go before the 2025 Osaka-Kansai Expo, four JR companies, including Central Japan Railway Co. (JR Tokai), began operating Shinkansen bullet trains adorned with the logo for the expo on Saturday.

The bullet trains with these designs will travel on three Shinkansen service routes — Tokaido-Sanyo (from Tokyo to Hakata), Sanyo-Kyushu (from Shin-Osaka to Kagoshima-chuo) and Hokuriku (from Tokyo to Tsuruga) — until the Expo ends in October next year.

Two Shinkansen adorned with the expo’s logo will run on the Tokaido-Sanyo route, while the Sanyo-Kyushu and Hokuriku routes have one such train each. The Expo’s logo and its official character, named “Myaku-Myaku,” are depicted on the train cars.

At JR Tokyo Station, passengers were seen taking photos of the logo before boarding the Shinkansen on Saturday morning.