2025 Expo Osaka: Guinness World Record Set for Largest Marching Band; Over 12,000 Marchers Join

The Yomiuri Shimbun

17:08 JST, May 11, 2025

A marching brass band consisting of 12,269 members was recognized by the Guinness World Records as the largest ever marching band on Sunday at the venue of the 2025 Osaka-Kansai Expo in Konohana ward, Osaka.

The group, which mainly consisted of members from the Kansai region, performed “The Stars and Stripes Forever” and other songs on the roof of Grand Ring, a wooden structure at the Expo.

The performance, part of the “Brass Expo 2025” brass band festival, was organized by the Kansai brass band federation and others.

Performers from brass bands and other bands from about 300 schools, including elementary, junior high and high schools, wore colorful costumes and uniforms and marched clockwise for more than 10 minutes atop the Grand Ring, which has a circumference of 2 kilometers, producing a harmony of wind and percussion instruments.

To be recognized as a Guinness World Record, the participants had to perform the song for more than five minutes and march more than 400 meters, and the conditions had to be confirmed by an official certifier.

After being certified as world-record holders, the participants applauded and shared a moment of joy.

The previous record was 11,157 members set at the Brass Expo in 1997.