Positive balance of the Spanish Pavilion at Expo Osaka 2025

The Spanish Pavilion at the Osaka World Expo 2025 closes its doors today with a positive balance sheet that exceeds all expectations: more than 3.4 million visitors and multiple awards.

Between April 13 and October 13, the Spanish Pavilion received 3,493,938 visitors. This figure exceeds the initial forecast of 2.8 million visits and is equivalent to nearly 14% of the total attendance at Expo 2025 Osaka (close to 25 million according to the provisional figure at the time of closing).

The theme of the Spanish Pavilion was "The Kuroshio Current," the movement of water in the Pacific Ocean that facilitated the return voyage and gave rise to the Manila Galleon, the Spanish trade route between Asia and America that operated between the 16th and 19th centuries.

During the six months it was open, the Spanish Pavilion also served as a platform for business, cultural, scientific, and technological diplomacy. Institutional and business activities were organized by Acción Cultural Española (AC/E) with the support of the Spanish Embassy in Japan, the Trade Office, and the Forum of Renowned Brands.

Among the Japanese guests who visited the Spanish Pavilion and left messages of appreciation and gratitude in the Book of Honor were Princess Takamado of Japan, the Governor of Osaka Hirofumi Yoshimura, the writer Yoshimoto Banana, and the filmmaker Naomi Kawase.

The Prince of Luxembourg, Crown Grand Duke Guillaume, heads the list of dignitaries, ministers, and international politicians who included the Spanish Pavilion in their visit to Expo Osaka 2025.

Ten autonomous communities of Spain showcased their landscapes, cultural events, and main gastronomic products during their respective weeks and days of honor.

Traveling to Osaka for their respective occasions were the President of the Generalitat (Catalan Government), Salvador Illa, the President of Castilla-La Mancha, Emiliano García-Page, the President of Andalusia, Juan Manuel Moreno Bonilla, and the President of Extremadura, María Guardiola. The Minister of Industry and Tourism, Jordi Hereu, presided over the celebrations for Spain's National Day on May 16, when performances by the Rocío Molina Company and Eduardo Guerrero's flamenco dance company were presented at the main venues of Expo Osaka 2025.

On June 7, the Spanish Pavilion welcomed its one millionth visitor, a young family from Tokyo, and on August 1, when Andalusia celebrated its Day of Honor, the Pavilion reached the two millionth milestone with a couple from Aichi.

On September 20, the arrival of the first member of a group of young employees traveling from Tokyo was recorded as the three millionth visitor. Although the number of daily visitors to Expo 2025 Osaka remained below 100,000 in the first few months after its opening in April, the number began to skyrocket to over 200,000 per day, with 10%, or around 20,000 per day on average, visiting the Spanish Pavilion.

Among the reasons for the surge in visitors to Expo Osaka, the Japanese news agency Kyodo News cited word of mouth and growing attention on social media. From day one, the Spanish Pavilion opened Japanese-language accounts on Instagram, X, and TikTok, which provided daily updates on exhibition content and featured interviews with artists invited to each week's events.

Despite the short history of the Spanish Pavilion's Instagram account (expospain2025), its content attracted a total of 15,000 followers, a figure that far exceeded that of other European national pavilions that used accounts that were several years old.

Artists invited by the regional governments for their respective cultural weeks joined a daily program of flamenco and other performing arts, bringing the number of shows to nearly 1,000 on the Spanish Pavilion's stages: the Plaza del Sol, the multipurpose hall, the Plaza de las Banderas at the entrance, and the Etxola restaurant. Flamenco was provided by Flamenco Real, a program designed by the Teatro Real in Madrid to promote flamenco worldwide. Every two months, a new group of five members was sent to perform every day except Mondays. The success of featuring flamenco as the centerpiece of the live shows at Expo 2025 Osaka was confirmed by the comments on social media and the fact that the Instagram content that achieved views of over 300,000 and 600,000 was flamenco-related.

Each week, a new guest group or individual artist delighted audiences of all ages with a wide variety of shows, such as Rocamora's puppets, life-size giraffe dolls from Xirriquiteula Teatre, Guillem Vizcaíno's spinning top show, or the fun giant rats from the Campi qui pugui company.

The recognition of the architecture of the Pavilion of Spain was recognized with four awards.

On October 12, the Spanish Pavilion was recognized with the Silver Award in the Architecture and Landscape category, an award from the Bureau des International Expositions (BIE) that recognizes Type A pavilions (self-built) of more than 1,500 square meters. At the 2025 World Expolympics, held on September 23, the Spanish Pavilion received the Silver Award for Best Exterior Architecture, the Silver Award for Best Sustainable Pavilion, and the Bronze Award for Best Thematic Concept.

The Spanish Pavilion was built on a 600-ton wooden structure, including Japanese larch, a coniferous variety from Nagano Prefecture, and Japanese cypress from Ehime Prefecture.

The color and texture of the tiles were the work of the Cumellas artisan workshop, the same workshop that supplies ceramics to Barcelona's Sagrada Familia Cathedral. With giant projections of underwater scenes and holographic images, visitors were introduced to Spain's blue economy, its advances in renewable energy, and historical episodes in the bilateral relationship with Japan.

"I'm learning Japanese history at the Spanish Pavilion," was a frequent comment on social media, accompanying photos of the models and digitalized maps used to explain the Keicho mission that gave rise to the surname "Japan" in Andalusia.

The Spanish Pavilion's restaurant, called EtxolaMar, was always full from morning until night and repeatedly appeared among the best on the lists of specialized publications in the Kansai area.

The "17+2 pinchos y tapas" dish, a generous sampling of cuisine from all the autonomous communities plus Ceuta and Melilla, with 50 prepared daily, sold out every day.

The Spanish Pavilion building is the work of architects Néstor Montenegro, Rocío Pina of Enorme Estudio, and Fernando Muñoz of Smart & Green Design. The construction was carried out by Murakami General Construction.