To use this site, please disable the ad blocking feature and reload the page.
This website uses cookies to collect information about your visit for purposes such as showing you personalized ads and content, and analyzing our website traffic. By clicking “Accept all,” you will allow the use of these cookies.
Users accessing this site from EEA countries and UK are unable to view this site without your consent. We apologize for any inconvenience caused.
The Yomiuri Shimbun Railway police officers from the Metropolitan Police Department are on alert at JR Tokyo Station ahead of the opening of the Osaka-Kansai Expo on Friday morning.
By Asaki Ogawa and Takushi Kuwahara / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writers
1:00 JST, April 12, 2025
Ahead of the opening Sunday of the 2025 Osaka-Kansai Expo, police authorities plan to mobilize more officers to boost security. As the event is set to attract global attention, authorities in other areas are preparing for the possibility of terrorist attacks far from the venue.
The Metropolitan Police Department, which oversees Tokyo, has introduced new equipment to be fully prepared for the event amid a growing threat from lone offenders who are not linked to any group.
10,000 security staff
On Friday morning, two days before the Expo opens, railway police officers from the MPD were closely monitoring people passing through JR Tokyo Station. The railway police unit will increase the number of patrols in trains to beef up security during the Expo.
Japan and 158 countries and regions will participate in the Expo, to be held on the artificial island of Yumeshima, Osaka. During the period from Sunday to Oct. 13, the Expo is expected to receive about 28 million visitors including many important figures from both Japan and abroad.
Up to about 10,000 officers, mainly from the Osaka prefectural police, will be on guard at the scene. However, a senior police officer warned that the risk of terrorism is not limited to the city of Osaka. In last summer’s Paris Olympics, three railway lines belonging to France’s high-speed TGV network were attacked and suffered damage.
The MPD has stepped up vigilance in downtown areas and public transportation facilities. At JR Shin-Koiwa Station in Katsushika Ward, Tokyo, officials from the MPD and East Japan Railway Co. in March reconfirmed steps to take when a suspicious object is found.
Attacks by lone offenders
Amid an increasingly complex and volatile international situation, there has recently been a series of terrorist attacks in the United States and Europe that have targeted an unspecified number of people. In December last year, five people were killed after a car plowed into an outdoor Christmas market in eastern Germany, and in the southern U.S. city of New Orleans in January, a car drove into a crowd and killed 14 people.
Japan has also seen a series of lone-offender attacks in recent years. Following the fatal shooting of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in July 2022 and an attack against former Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in April 2023, a man threw Molotov cocktails at the Liberal Democratic Party’s headquarters and tried to ram a car into the Prime Minister’s Office last October.
After these incidents, the MPD deployed net launchers to catch suspicious people around important facilities. To prevent the possibility of a car driving into crowds or buildings, equipment that uses needles to puncture tires has also been introduced. On April 1, a new department specializing in dealing with lone offenders opened within the public safety division.
Attacks against digital systems
The threat of cyberattacks also increases during international events. Ukraine will be participating in the Expo, while Russia has withdrawn, so there are concerns over the possibility of attacks by pro-Russian hackers.
During the 2015 World Expo in Milan, a ticket sales website was hit by a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack which sent large amounts of data to the website. Systems also saw disruption just before the opening ceremony at the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.
If systems such as those for ticketing and transportation are affected by cyberattacks, it will have a significant impact on the operations of the Expo. Police authorities will be on alert around the clock to respond to possible cyberattacks.
Isao Itabashi, the head of the Council for Public Policy who is familiar with counterterrorism measures, said: “If a terrorist attack occurs in Japan during the Expo period, it will have a considerable impact. We should consider that places in areas far from the Expo site where large groups of people gather could be targeted by terrorist attacks. Security measures should be taken across all of Japan.”
