While Osaka officials hope no further discussions on increasing the budget of the troubled 2025 Osaka Expo will be needed — now almost twice the original estimate — the central government has steered clear of making that promise as doubts about the event’s viability and necessity continue to grow.
Last week, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's government agreed to raise the construction budget for the 2025 Osaka-Kansai Japan Expo to ¥235 billion, ¥50 billion more than the previous estimate of ¥185 billion, and around 1.9 times the original ¥125 billion estimate for the six-month event on Yumeshima, an artificial island in Osaka Bay.
Though taking place in Osaka, the central government, Osaka Prefecture and the city, as well as the private sector, are each responsible for one-third of total construction costs. Rising prices and the weak yen have increased the price of imported building materials, the government says, making the budget increase necessary.