At the Osaka–Kansai Expo in Osaka, Japan, which marked its final day today, October 13, a host city handover ceremony was held for GREEN×EXPO 2027 (the Yokohama International Horticultural Exposition), to be staged in Yokohama in 2027. Osaka Mayor Hideyuki Yokoyama and Yokohama Mayor Takeharu Yamanaka attended, “passing the baton” with a flower wreath.
At the ceremony held at the Osaka Healthcare Pavilion, Mayor Yokoyama said, “We raced through the past six months together with everyone. April 13 feels like it was just yesterday. There were challenges large and small, but we were able to get through without any major incidents.” Looking back on the period before the opening, he noted there had been much criticism: “Once it actually started, the atmosphere changed all at once. As everyone shared photos on social media and the venue’s positive energy spread to the wider public, many people came to visit.”
▲ Osaka Mayor Hideyuki Yokoyama (left) and Yokohama Mayor Takeharu Yamanaka hold a “passing-the-baton” ceremony with a flower wreath
Taking the podium next, Mayor Yamanaka remarked, “As the Osaka–Kansai Expo achieved great success, the term ‘banpaku loss,’ meaning post-Expo blues, emerged as the closing approached.” He continued, “We want to carry over to Yokohama the Expo’s concept of connecting with the world and envisioning the future,” and appealed to Mayor Yokoyama, saying, “We’d also like to reuse some of the timber from the Grand Roof ring. That would be okay, right?”
Toward the end of the ceremony, “Tunktunk,” the official mascot character of the Yokohama International Horticultural Expo, made an appearance. Charming attendees with high-fives with both mayors, the character helped promote the Yokohama event.
GREEN×EXPO 2027 (Yokohama International Horticultural Expo) will be held from March 19 to September 26, 2027, at the former Kamiseya Communications Facility straddling Seya and Asahi wards of Yokohama, Japan. Of the approximately 242 hectares returned by the U.S. military in 2015, about 100 hectares will be utilized. The theme is “Landscapes of Tomorrow that Create Happiness.” In Japan, a top-tier (A1) horticultural exposition recognized by the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) and approved by the International Association of Horticultural Producers (AIPH) will be the first in 37 years since the 1990 International Garden and Greenery Exposition (“Expo ’90”) held in Osaka.
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