THE Japan Association for the World 2025 Exposition has released its official mascot for the Osaka event which is scheduled to be held from April 13 to Oct. 13, 2025. The mascot, designed by graphic designer and illustrator Kohei Yamashita, has no fixed form. The main design is just one of its forms. The red parts can be split apart, while the blue part can change shape freely. “It never sticks to one form. Everyone involved with the Expo 2025 can imagine the mascot differently, changing it endlessly into various forms. That is why we hope that this form will reflect a good future created from today’s diverse world,” the association explained. The character was selected based on an open call for mascot designs held from Nov. 1 to Dec. 1, 2021. A whopping total of 1,898 designs were submitted, three made it to the final shortlist and Yamashita’s submission won the final vote. When Expo 2025 first unveiled its logo in 2020, some netizens remarked that the emblem’s dots looked like eyes. Yamashita’s mascot design leans into that impression by incorporating the logo as the face of the mascot. Because Osaka is sometimes referred to as Japan’s city of water, the mascot is depicted as a shapeshifter that can take on many forms, just like water. Organizers are still picking out a name for the character, but are expected to announce their final decision sometime next month. “The logo is alive, and it has always wished to change. One day, the logo came across a body of pure water, and gained the ability to change into many different forms. Since then, the logo has been one with this mascot. The logo keeps wishing, ‘I will be whatever I want to be.’ And so, it keeps changing every day so it can be a better version of itself. As long as you have the power to imagine, the possibilities for change are infinite,” the association explained. (SD-Agencies) | 