Switzerland is a success at Osaka 2025, with Heidi and raclette
Keystone-SDA
Listen to the article
Listening the article
Toggle language selector
English (US)
English (British)
Generated with artificial intelligence.
The World Expo 2025 in Osaka will wrap up on Monday and the Swiss pavilion is proving a hit.
This content was published on
October 11, 2025 – 11:57
+Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox
Visitors face long queues to get into national pavilions but those who make it into the Swiss one are rewarded with raclette and a glimpse of Heidi.
It is mid-September, but the heat still hangs heavy over Osaka. The temperature sits at 32°C, and the air is thick with humidity. Within minutes, sweat starts to drip. Still, the intense conditions haven’t stopped crowds of Japanese visitors flocking to the Expo.
Tucked among the larger national displays is the small but striking Swiss pavilion. Visitors typically queue for around an hour to get in. Once inside, they search for karate legend Andy Hug in a mosaic, explore hands-on Swiss innovations and pose for photos with a cartoon-style Heidi.
More
More
Foreign Affairs
Swiss pavilion could be big hit at lacklustre World Expo
This content was published on
Mar 12, 2025
Expo 2025 is due to open in Osaka, Japan, on April 13. Switzerland has a chance to shine with an innovative pavilion.
Read more: Swiss pavilion could be big hit at lacklustre World Expo
Queues are everywhere: half an hour for a sandwich, an hour for most pavilions and up to two for Japan’s. Between mid-April and the end of September, 26.5 million people visited the 155-hectare site on Yumeshima, an artificial island in Osaka Bay.
The event’s motto is ‘Designing Future Society for Our Lives’. Two weeks before the Expo wraps up, ticket sales were halted. Despite that, attendance remains high, helped by a drop in temperatures.
Fewer visitors, more quality
Around one million people have visited the Swiss pavilion, averaging about 550 a day. That’s fewer than expected, and well below the 1.7 million who came to the Dubai Expo four years ago. “But the quality of visits is much higher,” says Béatrice Bleuler, head of communications for the Swiss presence in Osaka. “Visitors stay for around twenty minutes, they participate, and they’re genuinely interested in what we’re showing.”
Switzerland’s presence at the Expo cost the Confederation CHF13.2 million ($16.5 million), with additional support from sponsors. As construction costs in Japan are significantly higher than in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and the budget remained unchanged, the pavilion is noticeably smaller.
More
More
Foreign Affairs
Heidi and high-tech in the Swiss pavilion in Osaka
This content was published on
Apr 10, 2025
Switzerland is presenting itself as an innovative and sustainable country at the World Expo in Osaka.
Read more: Heidi and high-tech in the Swiss pavilion in Osaka
The Swiss pavilion features a service building and five spherical exhibition spaces. Visitors are welcomed by a large panoramic mural showcasing Swiss landscapes, cities, trade and industry. Scattered throughout the design are small figures, including karate champion Andy Hug, still admired in Japan despite his early death, and of course, Heidi.
Inside, 25 projects from universities of applied sciences, research institutes and companies are on display, covering topics like natural sciences, health and nutrition, sustainability, climate, energy, robotics and artificial intelligence (AI). Visitors are encouraged to get hands-on and take part in quizzes. The interactive format seems to go down well with locals, though the biggest draw is still the chance to snap a photo with the famous Swiss farm girl. After all, it was the Japanese cartoon adaptation that helped turn Johanna Spyri’s character into a global icon.
The lightest pavilion in Expo history
Upstairs, the small restaurant (where queues can stretch to an hour) could only be called the Heidi Café. Its most popular dish is raclette, served the traditional way with potatoes, spring onions and gherkins. By mid-September, more than 20,100 portions had already been sold.
The Swiss pavilion has earned plenty of praise from local visitors. Megumi Nakai, who’s in charge of bringing foreign journalists to the Expo, said, “The theme was well thought out and the design really focused on people. It highlights sustainability and originality in a fresh and engaging way.”
The Swiss pavilion is the lightest ever built for a World Expo, weighing just 400 kg. After the event, its shell will be repurposed into furniture, while the service building, which is reused at each Expo, belongs to Presence Switzerland, the unit within the foreign affairs ministry responsible for organising the country’s participation.
In the shadow of Austria
Visually, Switzerland finds itself – even in Osaka – somewhat overshadowed by neighbouring Austria. Though in the sweltering heat, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Austria’s pavilion towers 16.5 metres high, built from solid wood strips sourced from Lower Austria, and features the opening lines of Beethoven’s Ode to Joy.
Germany has also gone big, but with a different approach. It’s spent around €50 million (CHF46.4 million), used almost entirely Japanese materials that will stay in place after the Expo, and struck a strong balance between information and interaction.
Each country has taken its own approach. Italy is showcasing paintings by Caravaggio and Tintoretto, along with previously unpublished manuscripts by Leonardo da Vinci. France, meanwhile, has steered away from the Expo’s scientific theme, opting instead to display luxury suitcases and evening gowns from well-known fashion brands, both sponsors. While European visitors have raised eyebrows, Japanese guests are delighted. “It’s exactly how we imagine France,” one visitor says.
Applause for Trump
In Japan, Switzerland is seen through a different, but largely positive, lens. Tradition and innovation go hand in hand in both countries, which are known for their economic strength. “Switzerland stands for trust, quality, precision and innovation, but also a deep respect for nature and the environment,” says Nakai.
The US and Canadian pavilions also tap into the theme, aiming to win over visitors with sweeping views of their landscapes and cities. At the US pavilion, guests get a front-row seat to a rocket launch and a video welcome from Donald Trump. “America’s golden age has finally arrived,” the president says in the clip – a line that draws applause from the English-speaking tour group.
Surrounding the pavilions is a 20-metre-high, two-kilometre-long wooden ring – the largest timber structure of its kind in the world. Just outside, visitors will find an event hall, themed pavilions and a sprawling souvenir shop. But getting in takes patience: with queues stretching up to three hours, many European tourists are opting to buy their souvenirs online instead.
“We’re still aiming to keep waiting times as short as possible,” says Nakai. “But people are happy to queue for exhibitions they find interesting – it’s quite normal in Japan.” Organisers say they’re pleased with both the turnout and the feedback so far. And with only around 10% of visitors coming from Europe, it helps that the average Japanese visitor tends to be more patient than their European counterparts.
The underground is packed on the way back but, as always, it is efficient. And the little girl in the safety message, warning passengers to mind their fingers, bears a striking resemblance to Heidi.
Translated from Italian with DeepL/sp
How we work
We select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools to translate them into English. A journalist then reviews the translation for clarity and accuracy before publication.
Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles. The news stories we select have been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team from news agencies such as Bloomberg or Keystone.
If you have any questions about how we work, write to us at english@swissinfo.ch.
Articles in this story
AloJapan.com