Osaka–Kansai Expo 2025: How I Visited 22 Pavilions in One Day Without Reservations

If you get in early, the key is registering for same-day slots while you wait

Here27s a quick review of how pavilion registrations and entries work.

Some pavilions require reservations/registration, while others don27t. Even among those that can be reserved, some also accept walk-ups if you27re willing to wait in line.

If you have a reservation, you can enter without waiting. Without any reservations, I had to rely on same-day registration. You can register on your smartphone or at terminals inside the venue. The website is clunky, so some people use the terminals, but those are also extremely crowded, making registration quite difficult.

Also, you can only hold one same-day registration at a time, and you can27t book the next one until about 10 minutes after entering your reserved pavilion.

However, while holding a same-day registration, you can line up for pavilions that don27t require reservation/registration. If you balance registrations and standby lines well, you can cover pavilions efficiently.

Morning: It27s crucial to maximize same-day registrations

From here, I27ll outline the route I took. I27ll avoid detailed impressions of specific pavilions to prevent spoilers.

Since I entered from the East Gate a few minutes before 9:00 a.m., which was ideal timing, I started queueing for my first target pavilion while making same-day registrations on my smartphone.

At 9:00 a.m. I reached the France Pavilion, which was first-come, first-served without reservations. I was the second visitor of the day and could take my time with the exhibits.

Right before entering the France Pavilion, I secured a same-day slot for the Italy Pavilion from 9:30 a.m. Italy is known for its diverse artworks and tends to have long waits, so it27s worth registering same-day if you can.

While touring the Italy Pavilion, I took a short break and grabbed a same-day registration for the Poland Pavilion. Since Italy had a lot to see, I headed straight to Poland afterward.

After enjoying Poland, I secured an afternoon registration. Until that time slot, I couldn27t take another registration, so I moved on to first-come pavilions.

During this stretch I visited the Oman Pavilion, the Nordic Pavilion, the Turkmenistan Pavilion, and the International Organizations Pavilion. For me, who visits Finland a few times a year, my takeaway was that pavilions from countries I haven27t visited offer more new discoveries and are especially intriguing. This perspective shaped my afternoon route.

By the end of the morning, I had covered seven pavilions at a brisk pace. France, Italy, and Poland involved large walk-through exhibits and were very satisfying. Still, scale doesn27t always equal satisfaction; each of the other pavilions also yielded worthwhile discoveries.