Pikachu Is Helping Japan With Its 2025 World Expo Bid

The cuddly and popular Pokemon Pikachu has been named an ambassador for Osaka, Japan's bid to host [...]

By Christian Hoffer

The cuddly and popular Pokemon Pikachu has been named an ambassador for Osaka, Japan's bid to host the 2025 World Expo.

The 2025 Japan World Expo Committee, which is leading the bid to host the bi-annual major event, has revealed that Pikachu has joined the cause as an ambassador for their bid. Pikachu, the face of the Pokemon franchise, appeared on the Committee's Twitter feed wearing traditional Japanese garb and waving a Japanese flag to help promote Osaka's bid to host the 2025 expo.

Pikachu and other Pokemon also were prominently featured in a presentation previewing the proposed World Expo site. The video opened with Pikachu leading viewers on a tour of an island and other Pokemon were used to show how technology could be used to tailor the World Expo experience for individual viewers. Pikachu also appears at the end of the video, climbing onto the shoulder of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. That's right - Pikachu is hobnobbing with world leaders.

World Expos take place every two years and serve as a showcase for nation branding and to discuss various international concerns and technological advances. World Expos take place every five years, with the most recent Expo taking place in Italy, and the 2020 Expo taking place in Dubai.

The theme of Osaka's proposed World Expo is "Designing Future Society for Our Lives." Having Pokemon in our lives would certainly be a way to improve future society, but the expo also plans on having tech incubators and a unique non-centralized design to prevent traffic congestion.

Pikachu and his friends won't know if their influence has an effect on the Bureau International des Expositions, the group that chooses World Expo locations, until November of this year. Hopefully, Pikachu will be what puts Japan's bid over the top.

0comments
Start the Conversation

of