Catalan president meets Osaka mayor during Japan visit

Catalan president, Salvador Illa, met with Yokohama Hideyuki, mayor of Osaka, the third-largest city of Japan.

During the meeting, the two political leaders discussed how to advance the air connection between Osaka and Barcelona, as well as the possibility of promoting tourism between the two territories.

They also addressed how to adapt healthcare systems to an ageing population, a topic of interest for both Catalonia and Japan.  

The meeting lasted approximately 40 minutes.

During the meeting, the Catalan president also presented the Catalan initiatives featured at the World Expo 2025, taking place in Osaka between April 12, 2025, and October 13, 2025.

Catalonia is participating in the event as part of Spain’s Pavilion program and has organized a “Catalan Week.”

With the slogan “Catalonia, a land of innovation and avant-garde,” visitors can learn how to make the quintessential Catalan dish pa amb tomàquet (bread with tomato), attend wine masterclasses, learn to paint like Joan Miró, and explore the connections between language and modernist architecture.

Guests will also be able to interact with a brainwave-reading interface that generates personalized artwork, developed by the Catalan public innovation agency Biocat and the company Neuroelectrics.

With the week-long program of activities, Catalonia seeks to raise its profile at this major international event, which brings together nearly 160 countries and has already attracted over five million visitors in just over a month.

On Wednesday, the Catalan president will attend the official opening ceremony.

Hideyuki has been mayor of Osaka, a city with 8.7 million inhabitants, since 2023. Osaka is the second largest city in the Keihanshin metropolitan region, after Tokyo, and has one of the largest GDPs in the world.