Meet Myaku-Myaku: The Osaka Expo Mascot with a Growing Fan Base

In March 2022, Myaku-Myaku was selected from 1,898 submitted design proposals as the official character for Osaka Expo 2025, to be held from April 13 through October 13, 2025, at Yumeshima, Osaka. Its red parts represent “cells” that separate and multiply, while its blue parts convey an image of water that can freely transform. The character’s name refers to the hope that human DNA, knowledge, and history can be passed down like a continuous “pulse.”

According to the Japan Association for the 2025 World Exposition website, Myaku-Myaku has a friendly nature and the ability to transform into various shapes, as well as to find a rainbow after the rain. It is said to like interacting with all manner of things, living and inanimate. Its birthplace is a small spring somewhere in the Kansai region.

The character’s official licensed goods are selling well, with 107 companies having entered into official licensing agreements (as of April 2, 2024) and around 800 products available as of the end of March. Along with an online shop, six permanent stores can be found in Tokyo, Osaka, and Kyoto. From April 12 onward, another five stores will open, including in Hokkaidō and Fukuoka. The top three popular items among international visitors to Japan are, in order of popularity, Myaku-Myaku plush toys, key chains, and stickers.

The Osaka Expo 2025 official store at Daimaru Umeda department store. (Photo courtesy of The Japan Association for the 2025 World Exposition)

Products featuring Myaku-Myaku. (Photos courtesy of The Japan Association for the 2025 World Exposition)

Myaku-Myaku is in great demand at events both in Japan and overseas. In October 2023, the character accompanied a delegation from Osaka to Melbourne, Australia, to celebrate 45 years of affiliation as sister cities. Then in March this year, Myaku-Myaku was actively involved in promoting the expo at an event in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam.

From November 30, 2023, marking 500 days before the start of the Expo, JR West started using Myaku-Myaku wrap designs on trains along the Osaka Loop Line and the JR Yumesaki Line. Then, on April 13, exactly one year before opening, similarly-wrapped Shinkansen trains also began operating along lines in the western half of Japan. All these trains will continue running until the the Expo ends.

A train featuring a Myaku-Myaku wrap design at the JR West Suita General Depot, Morinomiya Branch, on November 29, 2023. (Photo courtesy of JR West)

A Tōkaidō-San’yō Shinkansen train sporting Myaku-Myaku and Expo wrap designs. (Images courtesy of JR West)

In addition, on November 28, 2023, Japan Airlines launched a specially painted JAL Myaku-Myaku Jet, which is scheduled to operate until around May 2025.

The specially painted JAL Myaku-Myaku Jet at Osaka International Airport (Itami Airport) on November 28, 2023. (Photo courtesy of Japan Airlines)

(Translated from Japanese. Banner photo: A large statue of official mascot Myaku-Myaku at an event in Chuō Ward, Osaka, on November 30, 2023, marking 500 days until the opening of Osaka Expo 2025. © Jiji.)