The author proposes a visionary plan for the post-use of the Expo 2025 site: creating a world-class botanical garden surrounded by the magnificent Grand Roof.
Inspired by the Kyoto Botanical Garden, the author suggests preserving the highly acclaimed Grand Roof as a national treasure and transforming the interior into a sustainable, easily accessible national park.
This project aims to carry on the spirit of the Expo and create a permanent, globally appealing attraction for visitors worldwide.

Last night, a flash of inspiration about the post-use of the Expo site came to me, something that only a modern-day Kukai or Nobunaga—a true “turntable of civilization”—could have.
Regarding Expo 2025, I had decided that once summer arrived, on a day with clear skies, I would go to the Grand Roof to take photos looking out over Osaka Bay and the entire city of Osaka.
Because of this, I missed the chance to buy a year-round pass. However, since I can still purchase it, I am currently giving it some thought.
On August 2nd, on TV Tokyo (Osaka)’s “Shin-Bi no Kyojintachi” (New Giants of Art) featuring Sou Fujimoto’s “Osaka-Kansai Expo Grand Roof,” Expo officials from various countries unanimously praised the Grand Roof.
“It should all be preserved” (Westerner). “Japanese architectural technology is wonderful… something only the Japanese can create” (Asian/African person)…
The Grand Roof, a masterpiece by Sou Fujimoto, one of Japan’s world-renowned designers with a brilliant vision, along with the Guest House and the Natural Forest, which is also an embodiment of his deep thinking, must be preserved as National Treasures.
I wrote and shared this with the world last night.
It was after that when the flash of inspiration I mentioned at the beginning came to me—the best and most brilliant idea for the permanent preservation of this site.
In May 2011, I was diagnosed with a serious illness and was told by my doctor that I had a “25% chance of survival.” I was hospitalized for eight months at Kitano Hospital, a large hospital affiliated with the Kyoto University School of Medicine.
Thanks to the wonderful doctors and nurses who were my juniors, I was completely cured and discharged on December 16, 2011.
The following year, 2012.
For 300 of the 365 days, I spent my time at the “Kyoto Prefectural Botanical Garden,” which is directly connected to Kita-yama Station on the Karasuma Subway Line. I photographed the plants, flowers, and various animals of the four seasons: kingfishers and other wild birds, black swallowtails and other butterflies, geckos, and various insects.
This botanical garden was truly the best. Every day brought a fresh encounter; no two days were the same.
I even bought a JR commuter pass from Shin-Osaka to Kyoto Station for a certain month.
One of the biggest reasons I was so enamored with the Kyoto Prefectural Botanical Garden was its excellent accessibility.
It only took 50 minutes from my doorstep to the botanical garden, and since it was directly connected to the station, I felt no fatigue at all.
Because of this experience, the ultimate solution for the post-use of Expo 2025 flashed into my mind last night.
The area should be used to create the world’s best botanical garden, managed by the national government and the city/prefecture of Osaka, enclosed by the world’s largest wooden Grand Roof, which is the largest wooden structure in human history and a heritage of humanity.
Many country pavilions are also promoting sustainability.
The birth of the greatest botanical garden in human history, embodying the spirit of Expo 2025… Expo 2025 is a temporary achievement, but this would be an eternal one.
It would be a magnificent place where people from all over Japan and the world would come to ascend and stroll along the world’s best, world-class Grand Roof and spend a day in the botanical garden they see below.
There could be no greater achievement than this.
The wonderful Suntory water attraction and the Ao and Rainbow at Night Parade could be continued as a paid attraction.
The park would also have reasonably priced and delicious restaurants and rest areas (with souvenir shops).
To the nation of Japan, to Osaka Prefecture, and to Osaka City, let’s create a National Expo 2025 Memorial Park (in cooperation with Osaka Prefecture and City) inside the Grand Roof as a true sustainable project, not just a beautiful phrase.
Let’s also make the Grand Roof itself bloom with more flowers than it has now.
That is the true meaning of “Sukiyanen Osaka” (I love Osaka).