ZUTOMAYO’s “OMOTE EXPO” at Osaka/Kansai Expo Celebrates the “Noble Solitude” of Human Progress — Concert Recap

Osaka’s EXPO 2025 — the city’s first world fair since Expo ’70 — has become a stage for unexpected cultural moments. Among them, ZUTOMAYO mounted an independently produced concert at the outdoor EXPO Arena “Matsuri.” The show, titled OMOTE EXPO 2025 “MEIKŌ WA GUNARUGA GOTOSHI,” was realized after direct negotiations between the band and the Expo organizers and quickly emerged as one of the event’s standout performances.

Earlier this year, ZUTOMAYO’s arena run, MEIKŌ WA GUNARUGA GOTOSHI, toured from March through May and drew roughly 120,000 fans across Japan. Framed as a “Midnight Forever Expo on the Far Side of the Sun,” the tour’s staging imagined a parallel Expo — an alternate celebration that might have been happening behind the scenes of Expo ’70 — and that inventive spirit carried into the Matsuri performance.

At its core, the OMOTE EXPO concept celebrated the messy, heartfelt process of making art: the experiments, the missteps, the small triumphs. (In this context, “Omote” refers to the outward-facing side.) The band translated that ethos into a free-entry lottery for Expo visitors, and more than 16,000 fans packed the arena — a record turnout for the outdoor venue — with crowds even lingering outside to catch stray notes from the set.

The performance sustained a jubilant, kinetic energy from start to finish. Veteran actor Koji Ishizaka — who narrated Expo ’70 — opened the concert, and the momentum never let up. Early highlights included the opener “DNA,” which featured CRT-display drums and electric fan harps, and the audience-driven clap on “Byoshin wo kamu,” moments that anchored the show’s communal atmosphere.

ZUTOMAYO’s music juxtaposes many styles within single tracks: rock, pop, soul, funk, dub, club textures, rap and strands of singer-songwriter intimacy, plus influences from Japan’s internet-music scene. Live, those eclectic ingredients coalesce into an amplified pop rush. Notably, the band’s assimilation of soul and hip-hop sensibilities into a distinctly Japanese pop framework sounded particularly vibrant in the arena.

Visual references to the 1970s — the era of Soul Train and Expo ’70 — appeared throughout the show: egg chairs, vintage public telephones and other set pieces evoked the earlier fair in stylized, contemporary ways. “CREAM,” a single released earlier this year, emerged as a mid-set high point, its airy strings and celebratory arrangement nodding toward Philly soul while remaining unmistakably ZUTOMAYO.

The second half intensified the spectacle. “MILABO” featured a spinning disco ball scattering primary-color light across the arena; “STUDY ME” took on Latin inflections and even included trumpeter Hajime Gushiken making a dramatic entrance by motorcycle. In “TAIDADA,” a relentless bassline and cascading lasers drove the audience into a frenzy. Throughout, the production leaned on tactile, analog textures — open-reel tape decks, CRT drums and kinetic stage devices — to create a singular audiovisual experience.

For the finale, the show referenced a line from Taro Okamoto — designer of the Tower of the Sun at Expo ’70 — telling the crowd “Solitude is absolutely social.” Before the closing number “Seigi” (Justice), ZUTOMAYO recounted meeting Ishizaka to invite him as the event’s narrator. Ishizaka reflected on change over five decades, suggesting that while society has grown more complex, the fundamental aspects of humanity remain largely unchanged. The band sealed the night with a unifying performance that echoed that sentiment.

Across the 55 years between Expo ’70 and EXPO 2025, countless creators labored in isolation, experimenting and refining. ZUTOMAYO’s OMOTE EXPO embraced that spirit: an artist-driven, noncommercial presentation staged inside a global fair, reaffirming the value of perseverance and creative solitude through an exuberant live spectacle.

At the conclusion of the set, the message “From Japan to Various Countries” signaled the band’s expansion plans: ZUTOMAYO will embark on a JAPAN & ASIA TOUR titled “ZUTOMAYO INTENSE II,” visiting multiple cities across the region.

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