Answers are grounded in this paper and cite their sources.
How was the Expo 2025 in Osaka spun and marketed to the public vis-à-vis the news media discourse? We focus on the issues of power play, politics, scandals, imaginaries, nostalgia, and sustainability, adding a comparative angle with the Tokyo 2020/2021 Olympics. While mega-events globally have similar features, some are particular to Japanese mega-events: in the ways they become a crystallization of utopian cosmopolitan imaginaries of a peaceful global society with Japan as its benevolent retainer, and in how they serve as an arena for domestic nostalgia-politics that attempts to relive the postwar glory days for the aging political-industrial elites.
No takes yet. Share an insight, caveat, or question.
Gagné et al. (2026) studied this question.
Synapse has enriched 10 related papers. Consider them for comparative context: