site.btaBulgaria Celebrates National Day at Expo 2025 in Osaka with Rich Cultural Programme

Bulgaria marked its National Day at Expo 2025 in Osaka, Japan, on Sunday with a rich musical and cultural programme.

In the packed National Day Hall, the national flags of Bulgaria and Japan were raised to the anthems of the two countries. Deputy Foreign Minister of Japan Hisayuki Fujii greeted visitors in Bulgarian and recalled the traditionally warm relations between the two states.

President Rumen Radev, who is visiting Japan with a delegation, also attended the ceremony. "Bulgaria’s long-standing friendship with Japan continues to be an important priority in Bulgarian foreign policy," Radev said in his speech.

The programme featured dancers from the Trakia Folk Ensemble performing traditional dance routines. Visitors also saw multimedia presentations of Church Slavonic chants, opera arias in Bulgarian and Japanese sung by Maria Slavova, and performances by Kalin Veliov (drum), Viktor Nikolaev (piano), the Wladigeroff Brothers (piano and trumpet) and singer Nina Nikolina.

Cultural events continue throughout the day. The April issue of BTA’s arts and culture magazine LIK, dedicated to Bulgaria and the World Expos and published in Bulgarian, English and Japanese, is set to be presented in the Bulgarian Pavilion. BTA Director General Kiril Valchev is set to host the event before Japanese university students studying Bulgarian, linked live to the MaxiM multimedia hall at BTA headquarters in Sofia and to 40 BTA national press clubs in Bulgaria and abroad.

World Expo 2025 in Osaka brings together 165 countries and regions and nine international organizations in about 180 pavilions. Under the theme Designing Future Society for Our Lives, the fair offers interactive exhibitions, demonstrations of state-of-the-art technologies such as artificial intelligence and robotics, and presentations of sustainable and innovative solutions in architecture, energy and healthcare, including smart-city showcases. Opened in April, the forum runs until October and is expected to draw almost 30 million visitors.