Here’s What to Eat at Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan!

There are lots of highlights of Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan!
You might be wondering about food at the venue. You probably want to know what there is to eat.
The food that will be at the Expo was announced on February 4, 2025. At “Presentation on Enjoying the Foods of the Future: EXPO FOOD COLLECTION 2025,” 11 companies that will have booths at the venue gave presentations.
The food theme for Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan is “a gourmet journey through the world and the future.”
Around 100 booths will open at the venue, featuring not only food from Japan but also from various countries at their Pavilions. I bet many of you are looking forward to chowing down on food from across the world!
Well, here’s an introduction to the foods you can enjoy at the Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan venue!

Kura Sushi: A sushi-tainable menu! Typical dishes from 70 countries make the rounds

Kura Sushi, Inc. is a conveyer-belt sushi chain everyone knows and loves. Their headquarters is actually in Sakai City, Osaka Prefecture.
Their interesting menu for the Expo achieves sustainability through sushi: sushi-tainability!
Underused fish you don’t normally see, products of smart aquaculture utilizing AI, and organic fish will be on offer.
And the special menu for the Expo deserves attention too. Typical dishes from the approximately 70 countries and regions participating in Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan will also make the rounds on the conveyer belt.

At the tasting, I tried kokoda, a local cuisine of the Republic of Fiji, and it was a perfect appetizer! The flavor was like a marinade with the white fish complemented by the sweetness and richness of coconut cream.
And don’t overlook the 338 seats, the largest capacity in Kura Sushi’s history, and the 135-meter conveyer belt, the chain’s longest ever!

SUSHIRO: High-tech sushi thanks to land-based and full-life cycle aquaculture

Speaking of conveyer-belt sushi, you can’t forget SUSHIRO!
FOOD & LIFE COMPANIES, which opens conveyer-belt sushi restaurants under the SUSHIRO brand, has its headquarters in Suita City, Osaka Prefecture. With both Kura Sushi and SUSHIRO, Osaka lives up to its reputation as the best town for eating yourself silly.
SUSHIRO will open the SUSHIRO Futuristic Expo Store at the Expo, with the concept of “From rotating sushi to continuing sushi: the sushi restaurant of the future in 2050.” Around 10 dishes will be available in a “Fish of Tomorrow” series featuring fish raised using high technology like land-based and full-life cycle aquaculture.

My recommendation from the “Fish of Tomorrow” series is the “land-raised Isomamori sea urchin wrap.” When you actually eat it, it’s just as delicious as the usual sea urchin and instantly melts in your mouth! The “land-raised vinegared mackerel” was also so good that no one would guess it was a product of aquaculture. You’ve got to try it!

Kenmin Foods: Smooth and chewy gluten-free ramen

Kenmin Foods, mainly a manufacturer of rice vermicelli, will offer gluten-free ramen as one of the foods of the future proposed by Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan.
The gluten-free ramen uses no wheat flour at all in the noodles or soup. The concept is “tasty ramen for all,” and the aim is not just to create a menu to accommodate wheat allergy but to develop a type of noodles of the future that will take hold as a new genre of ramen.

There is an ample variety of flavors including “golden chicken soy sauce ramen” made with only Jitokko chicken from Miyazaki Prefecture in a classic soy sauce base, “plant-based tonkotsu ramen” made without animal products, “refreshing yuzu and salt ramen in clear chicken broth,” and “soy sauce ramen in creamy chicken broth.” You can also eat stir-fried, 100% rice vermicelli, as you’d expect from Kenmin Foods.
Don’t miss out on the novelty of the smooth, chewy texture only rice can offer at the Expo venue.

MANEKI: Bento from a long-standing shop

MANEKI Inc., a company from Himeji City, Hyogo Prefecture founded in 1888, has a long history of selling station bento lunches.
The concept is “Be ambitious,” and they will sell a huge variety of bento, like original lunches and lunches for vegetarians, for the purpose of sharing Japanese food culture and hospitality with the world.

The first bento presented on the day was “Takeda rice topped with anago eel.” Visitors are sure to devour one after another of this unrivaled bento with plump, meaty anago eel in a secret sauce!

And I can’t mention MANEKI without the ekisoba Himeji is also famous for (ramen noodles usually eaten standing at stalls at the train station).
This soba is made not with buckwheat flour but with Chinese noodles in a Japanese-style broth. This nostalgic, comforting ekisoba will take the form of “the ultimate ekisoba” in a sukiyaki style made from Kobe beef, only at the Expo.

Takeshita Seika: You’ll definitely want to share a picture of these Osaka churros on social media!

Takeshita Seika Co., Ltd. is a manufacturer of rice crackers and sweets from Saga Prefecture, famous for their crunchy Black Montblanc ice cream bars.
Here’s what they’re offering at Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan!

Churros that say “Osaka”!
You can easily see their size when they’re held. And they’re sure to get people talking if you share a picture on social media!
These churros are made with rice flour, which includes over 40% polished brewer’s rice sourced from Kyoto Tamanohikari Sake Brewing, so they contribute to reducing food loss by using rice flour that would otherwise be discarded.
They have a very satisfying new texture, crunchy and chewy, and are a sweat treat anyone can enjoy, children or adults.

Nichirei Foods: Customizable frozen food

Nichirei Foods will make its second Expo appearance following the Japan World Exposition held in 1970, where they set off the popularization of frozen food. Like last time, they will open Terrace Nichirei.

The centerpiece will be their special fried rice, made using Nichirei’s independent technology and an automatic cooking device. It’s customizable to your personal preferences when you order, for a total of 20 types of fried rice. Fried rice is a standard frozen food, but how will it taste customized? Try it for real at the Expo venue!

And the Imagawayaki pancakes with sweet fillings, enjoyed hot or cold, and “superfruit” acerola blended smoothies are not to be overlooked!

Suntory: Shaved ice made from spring water, plus a variety of other drinks and food

Like Nichirei Foods, Suntory will make a second appearance following the Osaka Expo in 1970.
They will open three booths in the western Water Plaza inside the Grand Roof ring with the theme of “sustained by nature and water” that is the company’s philosophy to protect water resources.

Visitors can enjoy all sorts of drinks and food from them during the Expo, in addition to shaved ice made from spring water and items limited to a freshly ground coffee shop featuring their BOSS coffee brand.

You can feast on a multi-course menu capitalizing on Japan-produced ingredients at SUIKUU, a restaurant inspired by comfortable highlands from Suntory and Daikin, who also co-created the “water and air” for the daily water shows. Check out all three locations!

Shirohato Food: A sustainable food court

There is even more food to enjoy at the Expo venue. For example, Lapoppo (Shirohato Food), a specialist in potato sweets, will offer ”premium potato chocolate dome pie,” “doughy potato pizza,” and “potato bouquet soft serve,” all of which look cute and bring out the potato flavor. And Aoki Shofuan, famous for the Osaka specialty “Tsukigesho,” will introduce a “Golden Tsukigesho,” the first sweet bun with a milk-based filling in Japan with a functional food label.
I also recommend the tonkatsu from restaurant head Yoshiaki Noguchi, originally an Italian chef, who will participate personally in the Expo.

Oh, and the sustainable food court run by Shirohato Food brings famous Osaka restaurants all together under one roof. It’s the food court of your dreams, where you can eat till you drop!

So there’s your introduction to the food you can eat at the Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan venue! All the companies are working toward the food of the future and developing menu items, so you can sense the anticipation and enthusiasm for the Expo!
When you go to Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan, make sure you try a variety of food!