On the 13th, the '2025 Osaka-Kansai Expo' is being held on the artificial island Yumeshima in Osaka, Japan. Upon entering the exhibition hall, a gigantic wooden structure resembling stacked wooden pillars caught my eye. This was the 'Grand Ring,' which became the world's largest wooden building, measuring the size of seven soccer fields (total area of 60,135 square meters). Walking for about five minutes in its shadow, the Korean pavilion, marked with 'KOREA,' appeared.
One wall of the Korean pavilion features a large media facade measuring 27 meters wide and 10 meters high. Here, five media art pieces themed around South Korea are being displayed. Go Ju-won, a professor at Seoul National University of Science and Technology and the overall curator for the Korean pavilion at this expo, noted, "We focused on creating simple and clear video content so that visitors could understand Korea even if they just walked by without entering the pavilion."
Visitors typically wait about an hour to enter the Korean pavilion, which, along with the U.S. pavilion and the Italian pavilion, is considered one of the most popular attractions, excluding the host country, Japan. The Korean pavilion features a total of three exhibition spaces themed around 'consolidation,' each providing about 10 minutes of experiential content. Kato Hana, a middle school student who came to the expo on a school trip from Niigata Prefecture, said, "The first thing I saw as soon as I arrived was the Korean pavilion."
Before entering the exhibition hall, there were five waiting area booths, where visitors recorded one-word answers to the question, 'What is most precious to us?' Following the screens' guidance, as I entered Hall 1, the answers recorded by visitors from around the world flowed out as music through artificial intelligence (AI). With 132 lights, 41 speakers, and 4 woofers installed, the experience was filled with stunning light and grand sound.
Upon entering Hall 2, there were concrete walls. When air was blown into pipes installed everywhere, bubbles gradually fell from the hydrogen vehicle Nexo engine from Hyundai hanging from the ceiling. Director Go Ju-won explained, "The oxygen that the visitors exhale in the desolate city combines with the hydrogen from the hydrogen fuel cell to become water that falls as concrete and then recovers the space."
Hall 3 features videos focused on intergenerational consolidation. It depicts a granddaughter reminiscing about the time spent with her grandfather as she completes his unfinished music sheet and dances and sings with friends. Suzuki Nanako, a supporter at the Korean pavilion in charge of guiding visitors, recalled, "I remember a male visitor in his 20s coming back to the entrance in tears after watching the video in Hall 3, saying 'It was really good.'"
In conjunction with Korean Day (the 13th), various government officials visited the expo, including Ahn Duk-geun, Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy, Yu In-chon, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Ryu Jin, Chairman of the Federation of Korean Industries, Lee Won-jin, President of Samsung Electronics, Sung Kim, President of Hyundai Motor Company, and Kang Kyung-sung, President of Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA). Ryu Jin, whom I met at the entrance of the Korean pavilion, stated, "I came to the Osaka Expo for Korean Day, and the exhibition, performances, and nature were beautifully depicted."
In the Wasze (exhibition hall) within the expo site, the 'Korea Excellent Products Exhibition' is also being held. Samsung Electronics is unveiling the XR (extended reality) dedicated headset 'Project Infinite' to the general public for the first time. Visitors can see the headset covered with black glass while using the generative AI Gemini to search for information. Hyundai is showcasing a small electric vehicle called the Instar (the electric version of Casper), while the National Museum of Korea, the Small and Medium Business Distribution Center, and others have set up booths to display various goods.