Expo 2025 Was a Disappointment. If it couldn't even run a website properly, what does that imply about the future tech —and the true purpose of Expo?
Thoughts After Visiting Expo 2025 Yesterday
Yesterday, I spent a whole day (from 8:45–20:40) at Osaka World Expo 2025. Overall, it was a major disappointment. In a previous article, I had already shared my frustration with the widely criticized Expo ticket lottery system — and that frustration still held true on the day of my visit.
Please note that my somewhat critical reflections on the Expo are directed at the organisers—the senior executives. I have a fondness for Japan and visit often. The staff working at the Expo are all friendly and helpful. At the exit, about 50 staff members stood in two lines holding light bars, warmly waving goodbye with smiles to departing visitors. It was a genuinely touching moment. But in the end, there are human factors dominate. Just like, at your software job, if no wise executive seriously invest in real E2E test automation, it is fake Agile.
1. Getting to the Expo Site Without Taking the Train Is Inconvenient
I chose to enter via the west gate, hoping to avoid the larger crowds expected at the east gate, where most visitors arrive by train. However, the west gate is designated for those arriving by bus or taxi. The official bus services operate from several major train stations, so I assumed — given the scale of the event — they would run continuously, as they did for the much smaller-scale Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast. Unfortunately, I was wrong. These buses, cost ¥1500, require a reservation , and by the time I found out, all the popular early morning slots were already taken.
Logically, you might expect a shuttle bus between the two Expo gates — but not clearly advertised.
That left me with the taxi option. Taxis in Japan are expensive, and traffic congestion could easily drive up the fare. I opted for ride sharing, starting with Uber. Unlike Uber in Australia, Uber in Japan functions more like a taxi service with an added booking fee, and only provides an estimated fare range (in my case, 7,000–9,000 yen). In the end, I went with DiDi, which turned out be ¥6,800 (a better option for us for a group of 4).
2. Entering the Expo took 1 hour.
We arrived at the West Gate at 8:45 AM and ended up queuing for a full hour before we could enter. It was a sunny day, and the wait was made worse by poor crowd management — there were no proper queue barriers or frames to organize the lines.
Overall, it was a frustrating and disappointing start to the day.
By the way, I purposely chose a Tuesday, right after Japan’s Golden Week and the Western Easter holiday, expecting it to be a less crowded day.
3. The Free Wifi at the Expo site did not work for us
After the chaotic opening day — when a small percentage of international visitors couldn’t access their tickets on their smartphones, causing major delays at the entry gates — I came prepared with an eSIM connection, like most foreign tourists.
Out of curiosity, both my daughter and I tried connecting to the free Expo Wi-Fi. We received a “Unable to connect to Internet” message. I gave it another try in the afternoon, but by then, the Expo Wi-Fi network wasn’t even showing up on the list.
4. The Expo website has a poor load
Why do I mention the website? Yes, there is an Expo app — but you’re still redirected to log in through the website first. It doesn’t make sense, especially for a World Expo that’s supposed to showcase the future of technology. Sadly, that’s the reality.
I handed over the on-site reservations and navigation to my daughter, a FAANG software engineer. She needed an authentication code from me several times (for login) — an overly engineered security measure, in my opinion. At one point, she even encountered a login queue!
It was obvious that the website couldn’t handle medium-volume traffic — due to a lack of proper load testing. Long-time readers will know there’s a simple solution to this: using BuildWise for load testing. Check out this article “My Innovative Solution to Load Testing: Run Selenium Tests (in real browsers) in a CT Server with Parallel Execution for better Load Testing”.
5. Advance Reservations or Long Queuing Needed for Popular Pavilions
Don’t expect to visit more than three pavilions in a day. I was only able to get into two — Gundam and Mitsubishi — through the lottery system, each with a specific time slot. Many of the popular pavilions are only accessible with advance reservations. My wife did manage to enter the Japan Pavilion, but only because it opened for public queuing late in the evening.
I waited in line for the China Pavilion for an hour and spent 40 minutes queuing at Tech World. The queue for the USA Pavilion was over an hour long, so I decided to skip it.
Despite the waits, I still managed to visit seven other pavilions, including Spain, Malaysia, Australia, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar.
6. Lacking Innovative Technology and Real Substance — Mostly Just Digital Media Shows
My parents visited 1985 Expo (Tsukuba, Japan). They saw:
A robot drew a picture for the visitor
Door with a Built-in Camera
Video Conference call
among others
Maybe that’s why I had high expectations of Japan Expo since childhood. Yesterday, I didn’t come across any new technology that caught my attention.
It was mostly digital media displays — lots of big screens and projectors.
In terms of presentation, I rated China and Tech World (Taiwan) better. China did bring some historical artifacts and even Moon earth sample. Taiwan cleverly left visitors with a strong impression of its world-leading chip-making technology and its vital importance to human life and the future.
These were also the only two pavilions that offered visitors a small gift. China’s was a simple bookmark, while Tech World was more generous.
My parents received a gift bag at Expo ’85, and I still remember one item in particular — a digital thermometer from Toshiba. Its design and build quality are still better than any thermometer I’ve seen today.
Summary
There was so much potential for the World Expo — but very little of it was realized. For instance, despite being a global event, Japanese was the only language used for presentations at most pavilions. In today’s world, implementing real-time AI interpretation via a cool universally-used-at -Expo gadget should be relatively straightforward.
Yet, the Expo’s software team couldn’t even deliver a reliable, user-friendly website capable of handling basic traffic. What does that say about the leadership? Keep in mind, the troubled booking system hasn’t improved at all — even 40 days after the disastrous opening. That’s right — their software development process is clearly not Agile.
They should have engaged a real test auto coach, started with training on web testa automation with Selenium WebDriver first. With the right knowledge and tools, they could have built the confidence and capability to improve the system. Instead, they’re now left with a platform burdened by serious technical debt — something “software engineers” would avoid touching.
