Tokyo Shimbun December 11, 2024 06:00 One year has passed since advance tickets for the Osaka-Kansai Expo went on sale. The target number was 14 million, but sales were just over 7.4 million. Only 7 million have been allocated for corporate purchases, and sales to the general public appear to be sluggish. The opening day is the 13th of this month, which means there are four months to go. I feel like asking, “What are you going to do?” In the midst of all this, Osaka Governor Yoshimura Hirofumi brings up “that thing”… (Ota Rieko, Yamada Yuichiro) ◆The reality is that “the majority of advance tickets are purchased by companies” Osaka Prefecture office building and the mascot “Myakumyaku” for the Osaka-Kansai Expo (collage) Sales of advance tickets for the Expo are reported to be “sluggish”. How does the Japan Association for the World Exposition (Expo Association) view this? When asked by the Tokyo Shimbun’s “Special News Department,” the person in charge gave a resoundingly positive response. “On track.” It means that things are progressing smoothly. However, although it had been one year since the release on the 30th of last month, as of the 4th of this month, only about 7.4 million copies had been sold, which is only about half of the target. The person in charge acknowledged that “the majority of purchases are made by companies.” Some reports have cited information from insiders as to how many there were and how many had already been sold to the general public, but a representative said, “It’s difficult to physically distinguish the breakdown, so we haven’t made it public. He avoided answering the question, saying, “We will provide an estimate at some point.” ◆ Plans call for over 80% of operating costs to be covered by ticket revenues Under the association’s plan, over 80% of operating costs, including personnel costs and PR and advertising expenses, will be covered by ticket revenues. Unlike the costs of constructing the venue, which are covered by the national government, Osaka Prefecture, Osaka City, and the business community, the association will secure the funds for operating costs. Operating expenses were 80.9 billion yen five years ago, but increased to 116 billion yen in December last year. The estimate for ticket revenue has been raised from the initial 70.2 billion yen to 96.9 billion yen. The target number of visitors is approximately 28.2 million. The goal is to sell 14 million advance tickets, with the basic price of 6,000 yen for adults, with half of them expected to be sold by businesses and the other half by the general public. ◆If tickets don’t sell, a loss becomes a reality However, even one year after the release, sales to the general public are sluggish. Basically it’s an e-ticket. Paper tickets began being sold in October in an effort to broaden the range of buyers, but the effect is not clear. Still, the person in charge remains positive. “The people who are buying now are a dedicated fan base. Things will start to move forward once full-scale reservations for pavilions and events begin in mid-January next year.” If ticket sales slow, a deficit will become a reality. What I’m curious about is how to make up for it. When I asked what they planned to do, the person in charge simply replied, “It is important to spread the word about the appeal and fun of the Expo and work to create even more momentum.” ◆ ADO effect? x followers have increased, but… Since July of this year, the association has also started to strengthen information dissemination on social networking sites. According to the Osaka-based think tank, the Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies, the number of followers of the official Expo account on x (formerly Twitter) increased from just under 78,000 as of the end of July to approximately 89,000 as of November 15. The number of impressions was almost double the average in September compared to 19,000 in August. However, this may also be due to the announcement that singer Ado will be performing at the opening commemorative live concert and the release of video messages from male artists. Regarding the future, Deputy Chief Researcher Nomura Ryosuke says, “It will be necessary to narrow down the target demographic and provide timely content that people will want to spread on x.” If sales to the general public are sluggish, it seems likely that allocations to businesses will increase further. The Kansai Economic Federation has already allocated 150,000 to 200,000 advance ticket purchases to each of its major member companies. When we interviewed the JR West Japan Labor Union, which purchased 200,000 tickets, a representative said, “We currently consider this to be part of employee benefits. I haven’t heard anything about further purchases, but if that were to happen, there would need to be a discussion between labor and management.” Gas explosion at construction site The advance ticket sales situation suggests a chilly atmosphere toward the Expo. What exacerbates distrust is rising costs. Due to rising material and labor costs, the cost of constructing the venue dropped from the initial 125 billion yen to 2.3 billion yen… *The following article is for members only.
The Abe (Nikai Mogi) faction, the Kusaka faction, and the Naniwa Restoration Party (←all Abe-type) lost, and there were no winners.
They just wanted to do some political theater, like the security treaty protests (demanding the dissolution of the Diet) in the early Showa period and the 1930s and 1940s when Koizumi (Jun), Moriyama, and Bekure were young, with the usual Koreans stirring things up (fighting, division, chaos).
Are they going to use public funds to put a bill to a referendum three times after it was rejected twice? I guess they were counting on the fact that it would pass this time after 19 victories in 19 races in Osaka in the last House of Representatives election.
]It has been one year since advance tickets for the Osaka Kansai Expo went on sale. The target number was 14 million, but sales were just over 7.4 million. >7 million have been allocated for corporate purchases, and sales to the general public appear to be sluggish. It’s amazing that it sold 400,000 copies to the general public.
You’re probably planning on having a takoyaki party every day. But the price of octopus has gone up, so they’re in the red. The people of Osaka Prefecture are like boiled octopus.
Tickets for the World Expo don’t go on sale until it opens. Once it opens, they sell whether you like it or not. That’s what happened with the Flower Expo and the Aichi Expo.
If you have 6000 yen, you can eat all you want with yakiniku. For a family of four, you can probably spend about 2500 yen. You’ll also have to pay for food and drinks at the venue, so 6000 yen would be 24000 yen for four people.
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