On November 29, the Osaka Pavilion of the 2025 Japan International Exposition, Osaka Prefecture, and Osaka City held the “Myakmyak Departure Ceremony” at the East Gate Plaza of Expo ’70 Osaka. About 1,000 Osaka residents and others who won the advance lottery said, “Thank you. See you soon. and “Thank you, see you later.
The Myakmyak Monument “Welcome” at the East Gate and the “Wakuwaku” at the West Gate will leave the Expo site on the 29th and be relocated near the Tower of the Sun at the Expo Commemorative Park (Senri Expo Park, Suita City, Osaka Prefecture).
For the opening dance of the ceremony, Avangardi performed three songs: “New Era” by Ado, “The Continuation of This Earth” by Kobukuro, and “OKP Cipher,” a collaboration with Myakmyak that was featured in the closing flag parade.
At OKP Cipher, the Osaka Health Care Pavilion mascot character “Mozu-Yan” also showed off a snappy dance that was as good as the old Myakmyak.
Osaka Governor Hirofumi Yoshimura and Osaka Mayor Hideyuki Yokoyama took the stage for the opening talk. Governor Yoshimura said, “When the character was decided on in 2022, there was a lot of criticism of the Expo. At first, people said Myakmyak was ‘disgusting,’ but we traveled around the country together saying things like, ‘The more you chew, the more flavor comes out,'” he recalled.
But when the opening ceremony started, I felt that everyone who dressed up as Myakmyak had helped raise Myakmyak, so I decided to have a private company take over the two monuments. We decided to accept the monuments from Osaka Prefecture and the City of Osaka so that we can continue to see them in various places. They will be leaving the venue, but it is not goodbye by any means.
A video review of the Osaka Healthcare Pavilion was shown on a monitor next to the stage. A message from Kohei Yamashita, who designed Myakmyak, was also read on his behalf.
© Source travel watch