Wood Used in 2025 Osaka-Kansai Expo’s Grand Ring to Be Sent to Fukushima Pref., Kansai University

The Yomiuri Shimbun

2:00 JST, January 21, 2026

The wood used in the Grand Ring at the 2025 Osaka-Kansai Expo will be brought to Namie, Fukushima Prefecture, greatly damaged from the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, and Kansai University, the Japan Association for the 2025 World Exposition said.

While 200 meters of the Grand Ring, which has a circumference of about 2 kilometers, will be preserved there, the rest of the structure is being dismantled.

The recipients of the wood, chosen through a public call for applicants, were announced during an online meeting of the association’s working group on Monday. According to the association, the recipients include Namie, Fukushima Prefecture, and Kansai University.

While the town is considering using the wood to build and install benches in the station square as part of its reconstruction efforts, the university will use the material to rebuild a student building at its Senriyama Campus in Suita, Osaka Prefecture.

Of the Expo’s 84 pavilions, 26 are expected to be reused, exceeding the original target of 17.5 pavilions.

Five pavilions, including the Netherlands Pavilion, will be relocated in their entirety. Seventeen pavilions that made extensive use of leased construction materials are each assigned a value of one, as the materials will be returned to their lessors, and eight pavilions that will be partially relocated are each assigned a value of 0.5.

The Expo’s toilets, dubbed the “¥200-million toilets” due to its originally projected budget, will be relocated to the Osaka Garden of Floral Culture in Kawachinagano, Osaka Prefecture. The association will finalize the plans by March.