Kansai Expo’s Final Month Plagued by Record-Breaking Lines Both Online and At the Gate
If it’s your first time, it’s better not to go to the Expo
With less than a month remaining until the closing of the Osaka-Kansai Expo, the event has reversed the many negative reviews it received before opening, gaining popularity and seeing a surge of last-minute visitors. Reservations are showing sold out not only on weekends and holidays but also on weekdays. As a result, even those who already have tickets are finding it increasingly difficult to gain entry.
At the same time, as visitor numbers rise, enjoying the Expo has become more challenging. Issues such as being at a disadvantage if you don’t enter right at 9 a.m., the daily rush of people sprinting from the first trains, and long wait times of several hours at popular pavilions are common. Additionally, disappointing behaviors from some visitors have been observed. A travel journalist and photographer who has visited the Expo nearly 20 times since it opened shares an example of the current situation unfolding at the event.
Accessing the official website over 15 times per second for the “9 AM reservation”
To visit many pavilions at the Expo, securing a “9 AM reservation” is essential. Although all 9 AM reservation slots are already marked as full every day, a fierce click battle unfolds daily over occasional cancellation slots.
In late August, the Expo’s official website posted a notice titled “Measures Against Disruptive Acts on the EXPO2025 Digital Ticket Site.” It stated that users who employed automated tools to excessively access the ticket site for pavilion reservations had their Expo IDs and ticket IDs suspended.
However, after this, many posts appeared on social media claiming that users who did not use automated tools still had their Expo IDs suspended, and that full-pass or one-day tickets had all been invalidated. Some reportedly accessed the site more than 15 times per second trying to secure the “9 AM reservation.”
Since the opening, the Expo’s digital ticket site and official app have been repeatedly criticized for poor usability and UI/UX. Naturally, repeated manual page reloads increase server load, but because securing a reservation without such efforts is nearly impossible, everyone is desperately trying.
Even if you have a 9 a.m. entry reservation, it doesn’t necessarily mean you can enter the venue right at 9. To get in as early as possible, many people line up early in the morning at both the East and West gates.
At the East Gate, which is closest to Yumesu Station on the Osaka Metro, there’s a “Yumesu Dash” where people run to the gate right after getting off the first train. In addition, quite a few people camp out overnight from the previous night, walking to the East Gate before the first train arrives. According to a report from the Yomiuri Shimbun, on September 7, at least 300 people were already there before 5 a.m., and after the first train arrived around 6 a.m., the number waiting at the East Gate exceeded 1,000. Although the Expo Association posted a request on its official website at the end of August asking visitors to refrain from lining up early in the morning, the number of people waiting from early hours seems to be increasing instead of decreasing.
The West Gate can only be accessed by bus, taxi, or car (park-and-ride, P&R), with no access by foot or subway. On a weekday morning in early September around 7 a.m., the author took a taxi from Cosmosquare Station on the subway to the West Gate and found a large number of people already lined up. The gate opened at 8:50 a.m., and entry was allowed just after 9 a.m. Compared to mid-June, when the author waited from just after 7 a.m. and was nearly at the front of the line, the early morning waiting crowd has grown noticeably.
Why is it necessary to line up early at the gates? One reason is the same-day reservation system for pavilions. This is separate from advance reservations and becomes available about 10 minutes after scanning your ticket QR code at the entrance gate. You can also make same-day reservations at dedicated booths inside the venue. In other words, those who enter earlier have an advantage, and the reservation slots for popular pavilions fill up in a flash. Currently, by around 9:10 a.m., slots are nearly all gone.
Additionally, between 9 and 10 a.m., the venue is still relatively empty, so pavilions that normally require reservations can often be entered without one, and visitors can tour with little to no waiting. This advantage is huge. However, after 11 a.m., long lines form at every pavilion, and the venue becomes crowded. To enjoy the Expo even a little more comfortably, having a “9 a.m. reservation” is extremely important.
The official website and app have long had a bad reputation
Besides same-day reservations, pavilion bookings include a lottery system two months prior, another lottery seven days prior, and a first-come-first-served system three days before the visit. While the lotteries depend on luck, the first-come-first-served reservations are another fierce battle.
The first-come-first-served reservations open at midnight three days before the visit, and usually only leftover slots from the lotteries are available. Due to heavy access to the ticket site causing server strain, users are made to wait in a waiting room before the reservation page loads.
To click at midnight, users must log in before 11 p.m. and maintain that login continuously. Even if they manage to click and access the page exactly at midnight, they often encounter error screens or get sent back to the waiting room. Sometimes, tens of thousands of people wait, making it common to wait over an hour.
This waiting system itself has been consistently criticized. Recently, the system was updated, but even outside of peak access times, logging in with a Expo ID and trying to book or change pavilion reservations or visit dates can result in waits of several tens of minutes or even over an hour. Repeat visitors to the Expo are growing weary of this system, and no matter how successful and well-received this Expo is, the fact that the ticket site was terrible will remain.
Interview, text, and photos： Shikama Aki
