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Sightings of potentially deadly redback spiders have prompted a safety warning for visitors to the Osaka Kansai Expo in Japan.
The Japan Association for the 2025 World Exposition said nearly 70 redback spiders – designated an invasive alien species in the nation – have been detected in restricted backstage zones since the expo opened in April.
In a notice posted on 11 September, the association urged expo visitors to immediately alert staff if they encountered a spider.
The public alert came after a cluster of redback spider eggs was found on a visitor table on 9 September.
Pest control contractors have since been deployed to remove the spiders. “Exterminators have been hired and are already working to address the issue, but if you do come across a redback spider, please do not try to catch it with your bare hands or touch it,” the association said.
Officials from Osaka prefecture’s environmental health division said the spiders were more active in hot weather.
Although generally not aggressive, redback spiders may bite if handled roughly. They can be “venomous”.
A redback spider
The redback’s “fangs are short, so it is unlikely that you will be bitten unless you catch one with your bare hands or accidentally touch it without noticing it”, the notice said.
First spotted in Osaka in 1995, redback spiders are thought to have arrived in Japan hidden in cargo from overseas. Once confined to port areas, they are now found widely across Osaka prefecture.
Females, the more dangerous of the species, grow up to 10mm long and are jet black with a vivid red stripe on the abdomen – sometimes with an orange or hourglass marking underneath.
Males are much smaller, just 3 to 5mm, with pale mottled markings.
At the US Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni in western Japan, authorities exterminated 921 venomous spiders, including redbacks, black widows and brown widows, between April and July 2025, more than double the number from the same period last year.
AloJapan.com