
2025 Expo Osaka: New Shuttle Bus Route Connecting Osaka City, Expo Site to Launch Mid-Month; Aim to Alleviate Overcrowding on Osaka Metro
Yumeshima, where the 2025 Osaka-Kansai Expo is being held, in Konohana Ward, Osaka
OSAKA – The Japan Association for the 2025 World Exposition has decided to establish a new shuttle bus route between Osaka City and Yumeshima, the site of the 2025 Osaka-Kansai Expo. The decision was made during a meeting between association officials. The new bus route will begin operating in the middle of this month to alleviate overcrowding on the Osaka Metro Chuo Line.
The new route will connect the Osaka Metro New Tram's Trade Center-mae Station in Nanko, Osaka, with the venue. Reservations are required and buses run one to three times per hour, with a one-way fare costing ¥350.
Other transportation options to the Expo site include shuttle buses connecting to JR Sakurajima Station, Shin-Osaka Station and Nankai Namba Station, as well as the Osaka Metro Chuo Line. Currently, however, approximately 70% of visitors use the Osaka Metro.
The East Gate, where the metro station is located, is crowded, while the West Gate, where buses arrive and depart, is considerably less crowded.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


NHK
11 hours ago
- NHK
Japanese descendant in Philippines voices ahead of Japan visit
A person of Japanese descent left behind in the Philippines at the end of World War Two has expressed hope ahead of his first trip to Japan. The trip is being sponsored by a Japanese government program for people in the Philippines born to Japanese fathers before and during the war. Takei Jose, one of the descendants, held a press conference in Manila on Tuesday. Takei is one of about 50 stateless people in the Philippines who claim Japanese parentage. They are seeking recognition by Tokyo. Takei plans to go to Osaka to visit his relatives and his father's grave. Takei said he hopes that he can visit the place where his father was born. It's been his longtime dream to go to Japan. The 82-year-old was born to a Japanese father who worked as an engineer and a Filipino mother. But his father went missing before he was born. When Takei met with Japanese Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru in April in Manila, he called for more help for descendants like himself. Ishiba said he would work to ensure that they would obtain Japanese nationality and a visit to Japan as soon as possible. Takei visited his mother's grave to tell her about his first trip to Japan, which begins on Wednesday. The cost of the trip is being covered by the government program for descendants.


Japan Times
3 days ago
- Japan Times
With a new distillery, Suntory makes a spirited move on gin market
Ever since gin distillery tours went vogue with the rise of gin and cocktail culture at the turn of the 21st century, the game of sniffing and identifying elements in little containers — in this case, gin botanicals — has become de rigueur for visitors. At Suntory Spirits' newly constructed Osaka Spirits & Liqueurs Craft Distillery, located within the existing Suntory Osaka Plant, this olfactory exercise is no exception. But the smells don't just come from the usual potpourri of juniper berries and citrus peels — there are also cherry blossom leaves, sencha (steamed green tea), gyokuro (high-quality, shade-grown green tea) and sanshō pepper, all of which help create the taste profile of Roku, Suntory's craft gin. First launched in Japan in 2017, Roku is now sold in approximately 60 countries and remains one of Suntory's most popular products with almost 90% of its sales coming from outside of Japan. It's almost impossible to walk into any top bar in London, Singapore and Hong Kong today and not spot the bottle, with its white label and eponymous kanji character for 'six,' sitting behind the counter. Since its launch in 2017, Roku gin has become a popular spirit in many of the world's top bars. | SUNTORY 'In the six years since it was launched, Roku has become the second most popular premium gin in the world, hitting sales of nearly 400,000 cases,' says Tetsuji Yano, senior general manager of Suntory Osaka Plant. 'In the long term, we aim for (Roku) to become the number one premium gin in the world.' The Osaka Spirits & Liqueurs Craft Distillery will focus largely on gin — and for good reason: According to a press statement from Suntory, Japan's gin market was estimated to be worth ¥25 billion as of 2024. The new distillery is part of Suntory's aim to capture the growing demand for gin, develop its Roku range and help drive Japan's total gin market to ¥45 billion by 2030. Suntory has spared no expense. Out of the ¥6.5 billion invested in increasing the production capacity at the Osaka plant, ¥1 billion was poured into the visitor experience at the Osaka Spirits & Liqueurs Craft Distillery. The Japan Times was invited to a press preview of the new distillery, which began operations in June but will open to the public in spring 2026. The distillery's four distillation pot stills, which help increase the plant's total production capacity by 2.6 times, are the new toys. A viewing deck, perched four stories high, allows visitors to overlook the stills that include a vacuum distillation pot for extracting the delicate aromas of cherry blossom leaves and a rectification pot for extracting fruit peels and purifying alcohol via repeated distillation. Each of the new distillery's pot stills is designed to accommodate the different extraction requirements of each botanical used for Roku gin. | SUNTORY However, gin geeks looking to go on a guided tour closer to those massive contraptions humming below may be disappointed: Suntory currently has no plans to introduce such an option. For now, it is the seminar and tasting room — a theater-like space consisting of two horseshoe-shaped tables that evoke a United Nations meeting — that will leave an impression. Seemingly taking a page out of teamLab's playbook, the venue features 360-degree-wide, thematic light projections, such as yuzu orchards or cherry blossoms to highlight the botanicals used in Roku. Here, you can sip your gin while immersed in a luminous, virtual world of nature. The tasting room will also showcase Roku's limited-edition seasonal releases, a line-up Suntory plans to grow. In May, it launched Noryo Tea Edition, a gin made with sencha and gyokuro tea leaves as key botanicals. Sold exclusively in Japan, Noryo took about two years to develop: The gin offers gentle umami notes and a soothing, herbaceous finish. As a gin and soda mix, it makes a refreshing libation for summer. Drink in the scenery: The seminar and tasting room features immersive light projections with visuals that showcase Roku gin's botanicals, such as cherry blossoms. | SUNTORY Suntory, however, is unable to disclose information about new Roku variants that will be launched for the distillery's opening to the public next year. It also did not elaborate on whether it plans to make any new whisky products — another growing segment — at the distillery: A spokesperson said they are blending and bottling some of their current whiskies at the plant, such as Kakubin. At present, from a visitor's perspective, the Osaka Spirits & Liqueurs Craft Distillery feels like a work in progress. Beyond sniffing games and the obligatory video presentation and guided tasting session, Suntory can afford to add a little more interactiveness and personalization to the visitor experience. The good news is Suntory still has till next spring to explore new ideas. Perhaps it can take a leaf out of some creative visitor programs in London's gin distilleries, such as Portobello Road Distillery, where, under guidance from an instructor, you get to create your own blend of gin and have it bottled and labeled right there and then as a souvenir. Throwing in a food and gin pairing session wouldn't hurt, too.


Yomiuri Shimbun
7 days ago
- Yomiuri Shimbun
YOL Posts Expo News in ‘Easy' Japanese, Aiming to Help Foreign Residents, Visitors with Basic Grasp of Language
The Yomiuri Online releases 'easy Japanese' news about the 2025 Osaka-Kansai Expo on its website to help foreign residents and visitors easily understand the latest updates about the event. Having started in June, the easy Japanese news features selected news items related to the event once a week. The primary audience is those interested in Japan and the language who can understand the basic Japanese used in greetings and shopping interactions. Difficult words are replaced with simpler Japanese terms. Stories featured so far include 'Walking route from the West Gate completed,' or 'Restaurants and souvenir shops extend opening hours.' Find out more here.