The Grand Duchy will participate for the 25th time this year in the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, under the theme Doki Doki – The Luxembourg Heartbeat. With 28 million visitors expected over six months, its Expo 2025 presence will showcase the grand duchy as a European business and technology hub and its capabilities in sectors ranging from health and space to fintech and AI
What potential economic benefits can Luxembourg draw from World Expo 2025 in Osaka?
Luxembourg’s pavilion in Osaka is taking shape ahead of the opening of the Universal Exposition – the 25th in which the country has participated – on April 13. The six-month event offers an opportunity to deepen the grand duchy’s economic relationship with Japan, its second largest trade partner in Asia with goods and services imports of €605m and exports of €1.04bn in 2023. World Expo 2025 will also represent an international showcase for Luxembourg companies in areas such as financial technology and artificial intelligence, sustainability and space communications, helping them identify new customers and markets, and enabling start-ups to attract financing and forge strategic partnerships. The government and the Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce are conducting an official trade mission to Tokyo and Osaka from July 12 to 18, along with dedicated events for the space and technology/health sectors.
©GIE Luxembourg @Expo 202 Osaka
How will the Luxembourg pavilion in Osaka present the country’s character?
Under the official theme of Designing Future Society for Our Lives, World Expo 2025 seeks to offer a human laboratory in which new systems, ideas and technologies can be examined and tested. The Luxembourg pavilion has been designed by architecture firm STDM according to circular economy principles, making it easily disassembled at the end of the event. Its individual theme, Doki Doki – The Luxembourg Heartbeat, is an audiovisual experience named for the Japanese expression for a rapid heartbeat prompted by danger or excitement. Visitors can explore the grand duchy’s pavilion in depth on May 30, which has been designated as Luxembourg Day. It’s an opportunity to demonstrate how the country is tackling global challenges of the future, especially sustainability, through a heritage-based identity, its modern embrace of diversity, and its commitment to circularity and technological innovation in the use of resources.
“It’s an opportunity to demonstrate how the country is tackling global challenges of the future, especially sustainability, through a heritage-based identity, its modern embrace of diversity, and its commitment to circularity and technological innovation in the use of resources”
What unique aspects of Luxembourg will World Expo 2025 visitors experience in Osaka?
The pavilion includes a bowling alley custom-designed by Georges Linster and assembled by craft students, while its audiovisual show, developed by the set design studio jangled nerves, consists of three acts linked by the Doki Doki motif. Visitors will also be offered a creation by Pauline Michelin from the Chef’s Table restaurant at Luxembourg’s Hostellerie du Grünewald, whose challenge was to blend Luxembourg and Japanese traditions in a single dessert. Her concept involves honey and the traditional Luxembourgish cake Bamkuch, soaked in sake and incorporating sudachi, a small green Japanese citrus fruit, finished with a honeycomb-shaped tuile of honey and sake, and decorative bees.
