OSAKA, Japan — A groundbreaking ceremony took place Monday for the Japan pavilion of the 2025 Osaka-Kansai Expo on Osaka’s man-made Yumeshima Island. The pavilion will serve as a venue for the government to promote the expo’s theme of “Designing Future Society for Our Lives” as the host country and also play a diplomatic role in welcoming foreign dignitaries and other visitors. The construction of a three-story building is expected to be completed by the end of February 2025, ahead of the expo’s opening in April of that year. It will have interior and exterior walls of cross-laminated timber panels.