<figure id="attachment_439057" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 2000px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-439057"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="23593797"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2025/09/fb588517d09bd93225fb7dcabe6405e3.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-439057" class="wp-caption-text">As the number of visitors increases, the pavilions all have lines. Each pavilion will display the waiting time and suspend the queue to accommodate visitors. Waiting in line is officially prohibited.</figcaption></figure>
<h3><span class="strongInContent"> Battles over queuing broke out at the entrance gates and pavilions</span></h3>
<p data-start="0" data-end="252">Long lines and quarrels breaking out all around the venue. A travel journalist and photographer who has visited nearly 20 times since the opening reveals the alarming scenes unfolding at the Osaka–Kansai Expo, now less than a month away from closing.</p>
<p><a href="https://friday.kodansha.co.jp/article/439033" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> Click here for <span class="strongInContent">Part 1: &#8220;Even if you line up two hours before the opening, it&#8217;s still too late,&#8221; and &#8220;Lines at the Expo and on the web. Anomalies at the Kansai Expo, one month before the event closes</span>.</a></p>
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<p data-start="450" data-end="666">In front of popular pavilions, visitors stand waiting endlessly to get in. Meanwhile, many pavilions have set up <em data-start="563" data-end="579">priority lanes</em> for invited VIPs, as well as for wheelchair and stroller users and their companions.</p>
<p data-start="668" data-end="980">However, the author has witnessed troubling behavior in these lanes — groups of around ten people entering together with just one stroller, including parents, grandparents, and other children, or even older children, roughly elementary school age, being placed in strollers to gain access to the priority lane.</p>
<p data-start="982" data-end="1277">Similar issues have been seen with wheelchairs. In some cases, people have confronted staff at pavilions without priority lanes, demanding, “Why can’t we get priority entry?” Some pavilions have even had to revise their rules after opening, limiting use to two accompanying persons or fewer.</p>
<p data-start="1279" data-end="1573" data-is-last-node="" data-is-only-node="">While in many countries it is customary to prioritize people with disabilities or other needs — often more so than in Japan — at the Expo’s international pavilions, such consideration was clearly visible early in the event. Yet, as the months went by, that proactive spirit seems to have faded.</p>
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<h3><span class="strongInContent"> As the number of people increases, the deadly atmosphere spreads</span></h3>
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<p data-start="0" data-end="672">In addition, there have been numerous cases where people who had only one person standing in line at a pavilion were later joined by large groups midway through, or where others casually cut in line. When queues became too long and crowd-control measures were put in place, some visitors ignored staff telling them “Please don’t wait here,” and remained in place until the restrictions were lifted—then rushed forward the moment entry resumed, creating dangerously chaotic situations. In one case, a person was knocked over in the surge, and the one who bumped into them didn’t even stop to help. The injured person ended up receiving treatment in the first-aid station.</p>
<p data-start="674" data-end="963">At the west gate, where the author was waiting to enter, the crowd was tightly packed. Two elderly women nearby began arguing—“I was here first!” “Don’t push me!”—and since both appeared to be alone, no one around intervened. The quarrel continued all the way until they finally entered.</p>
<p data-start="965" data-end="1365">Poor manners among visitors can be seen elsewhere too. For example, while waiting at the gates or pavilions, many people use parasols to shield themselves from the heat, something even encouraged by the Expo Association. However, in dense crowds, parasols can be hazardous to others. The author repeatedly witnessed parasol tips poking people’s bodies—and at times dangerously close to their faces.</p>
<p data-start="1367" data-end="1589">Many visitors also bring folding chairs to use while waiting, now considered one of the must-have items for attending the Expo. But when seated people open parasols, it’s easy for them to bump into those standing nearby.</p>
<p data-start="1591" data-end="2066" data-is-last-node="" data-is-only-node="">Furthermore, in the “Commons” area—joint pavilions where many countries have their booths—an increasing number of visitors have been touching the exhibits. Even if there’s no explicit sign saying “Do not touch,” it should go without saying that items carefully transported all the way from overseas to Japan deserve respectful handling. Though it may be only a small fraction of visitors, such behavior sadly calls into question the standard of manners among Japanese people.</p>
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<figure id="attachment_439043" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 1992px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-439043"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="1b6f7959"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2025/09/70e49db43bfcfcecd5b715d683bd1e93.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-439043" class="wp-caption-text">As the Osaka-Kansai Expo draws to a close, the number of rush visitors has been increasing since September, with some days, such as holidays, seeing more than 200,000 visitors.</figcaption></figure>
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<h3>At night, even getting to the station turns into a massive queue earning the event the nickname “The Commuter Expo.”</h3>
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<p data-start="0" data-end="396">After 9 p.m., the route leading to Yumeshima Station becomes pure chaos. Until evening, visitors can exit through the East Gate and head straight to the station, but at night, a detour route is set up to prevent overcrowding inside the station. What takes just a few minutes during the day can stretch to 30 minutes or even an hour at night—earning the event the nickname “The Commuter Expo.”</p>
<p data-start="398" data-end="845" data-is-last-node="" data-is-only-node="">Even after leaving the gates, the path to the station is packed, forcing people to move slowly in dense crowds. Yet amid this, there are always those who try to push ahead, determined to get in front. Moving forward through such a crush isn’t easy, and many bump into others without so much as an apology, single-mindedly forcing their way through. In all the times the author has witnessed this scene, every one of those people has been Japanese.</p>
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<figure id="attachment_439044" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 2000px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-439044"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="f91880f9"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2025/09/099f9a16b4a21b65f6b6df4f4c862898.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-439044" class="wp-caption-text">Visitors exiting the East Gate and walking along the route leading to the Yumeshima subway station (left). During the daytime, visitors can enter the station right from the gate, but at night they are forced to take a large detour even though the station is right in front of them.</figcaption></figure>
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<h3><span class="strongInContent"> The number of visitors exhausted by the overflow of people at the expo site has also increased rapidly!</span></h3>
<p>The Expo visitors are of an older age group. Japanese visitors outnumber foreigners by far. In April and May, immediately after the opening of the Expo, the venue was still empty, and it was not as difficult to walk around the venue or wait in line at the pavilions. Now, however, less than a month before the show closes, the venue is overflowing with people.</p>
<p>Many people are scrolling and clicking on their smartphones to make reservations for pavilions. You have to know in advance when the reservation slots are open and win the clicking battle with many other people. It is eerie to see everyone around you scrolling through the same screen while waiting in line at the other pavilions or sitting at a rest stop, but you have to do it.</p>
<p>We missed the entrance just after 9:00 a.m., and when we finally entered the venue, there were long lines even at convenience stores, let alone pavilions, no reservations at pavilions, and no available seats under the large roof ring or in restaurants, even if we wanted to take a break. The number of such exhausted visitors has been increasing, especially in recent years.</p>
<figure id="attachment_439045" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 2000px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-439045"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="33f53f61"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2025/09/3e051a3471eb64d7f9d1de3dfc9bac6d.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-439045" class="wp-caption-text">During the daytime, there are many people everywhere under the big roof ring. Especially in summer, it is a valuable shady place, so people gather to take a rest, and many people sit on the floor because there are no benches.</figcaption></figure>
<figure id="attachment_439046" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 2000px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-439046"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="d4129b5c"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2025/09/206dec135e028d28273c182b8b04d1a6.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-439046" class="wp-caption-text">People stand in line for the &#8220;Myakmyak lottery,&#8221; which is very popular because of its cosmetic value: for 2,000 yen per ticket, you can get a Myakmyak stuffed animal, but it is inevitable to wait in line for an hour or two.</figcaption></figure>
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 Shikama Aki

 Long lines and battles breaking out all over the venue.... A travel journalist and photographer who has visited the Osaka Expo site nearly 20 times since the opening of the event will introduce the extraordinary situation occurring at the Osaka Expo site less than a month before the event closes.

Priority Lane Chaos Exposes Cracks in Japanese Manners Before Kansai Expo Ends

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