Osaka Expo Power Cut: 30,000 Stranded, Crisis Planning Scrutinized

Osaka Expo Power Cut: 30,000 Stranded, Crisis Planning Scrutinized

August 14, 2025 Ahmed Hassan World
About 30,000 visitors to Japan’s World Exposition in Osaka were left stranded, with some forced to spend the night inside the expo grounds, after the sole train service to the venue had to be halted due to a power outage on Wednesday.

Services on the Chuo Line, the only direct route to Yumeshima, the artificial island that hosts the expo, were halted at 9.30pm – 30 minutes before closing time – because of an electrical failure, Kyodo news agency reported.

While the Osaka Metro partially restored the service before midnight, Yumeshima was so overwhelmed with people trying to leave via the station that entry was temporarily restricted, according to the Asahi Shimbun newspaper.

Visitors were encouraged to use other public transport or stay inside the venue.

Visitors wait in line for taxis in front of the entrance gate of the World Exposition in Osaka on Wednesday night, after services were suspended on the Osaka Metro’s Chuo Line, which offers sole direct train access from the city centre to the expo site on Yumeshima island. Photo: Kyodo

One man from Saitama prefecture ended up waiting for a taxi after not being able to catch the train at the station. “We were packed in like sardines,” he told the Asahi Shimbun, adding that it was so hot that some people fainted. “Visitors need more information. There is no crisis management at all.”

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