The "2025 Expo Bid" support by the Ittoko Minami Executive Committee began on July 1st, coinciding with last year's "Dotonbori River Mantō Festival," when lanterns bearing "Osaka Expo 2025" were hung on Ebisubashi Bridge. Installing lanterns on "Ebisubashi Bridge," a world-famous spot with over 100,000 people passing through daily, was a first, and negotiations were difficult, but we were able to install them thanks to everyone's cooperation.
This year, with the aim of creating something more impactful, we decided to display a ”Fist Object” representing the grit of Osaka in its bid [for the bid] along with lanterns on Ebisubashi bridge, chosen from various ideas. We cleared precautions such as "people must not push it to move, and people must not climb on it," and installed it on July 14th. After the "Dotonbori River Manto Sai" (Lantern Festival) ended on September 1st, it was moved in front of the Osaka City Hall to continue the exhibition.
And, what should we do on the day of the vote to decide the host country? We decided to wait for the results in the city, and if the bid was successful, we would celebrate together, and if it failed, we would create a place to thank everyone who cooperated with us for their efforts. We thought it wouldn't do to have a huge, unmanageable commotion right in the middle of the bustling downtown area, but at the same time, we needed to build excitement. After much deliberation, we decided to broadcast live footage from Paris with the cooperation of "Tonbori Station," announce the results with the cooperation of "TUTAYA Vision," and have a small ceremony to break a kusudama.
Around 20 media companies gathered, and we waited for the announcement from around 11:30 PM. Initially, the first round of voting was expected around midnight, with results by 1 AM. However, we were informed that voting was delayed, and the first round began around 12:40 AM. Japan passed with a majority of votes, ranking first. Immediately after, a final round of voting was held, and Osaka-Kansai (Japan) was chosen. The scene was a joyous chaos. While trying to break a kusudama, no one was there to pull the strings. Just as they finally gathered, someone stepped on a microphone cable, causing a sound system failure...
A view of the venue filmed by Namba Keizai Shimbun
In any case, it finished without a hitch around 1:10 AM.
From now on, we will be looking for a new exhibition location for the "Fist Object" that was displayed in front of City Hall until November 23rd.
