The World Expo witnessed the first live ballet performance in a pavilion designed by the Philippines as it joins the Expo 2025 Osaka in Japan.

The Tourism Promotions Board (TPB) said the show performed by Ballet Philippines will run during a limited period until 15 June.

The performance is presented on a scaffolding-like facade of the Philippine pavilion which features some woven rattan-like panels. The TBP tapped Carlo Calma as the pavilion's lead architect and designer.

"This is an embodiment of our theme, Nature, Culture, and Community: Woven Together for a Better Future," he said.

"It’s a powerful celebration of movement, Filipino identity, and artistic collaboration seen in a way like never before at a World Expo," said TBP chief operating officer Maria Margarita Montemayor Nograles.

Expo officials expect to attract over 28 million visitors during the Japan-hosted travel event's entire run until 13 October.

According to the Department of Tourism, the Philippines attracted 156,532 Japanese tourists from January to April this year, an 18.14 percent growth from the figure in the same period in 2024. This made Japan as the Philippines' third biggest source of foreign tourists.

The highest number of visitors came from South Korea with 468,337 tourists while the United States for ranked second, contributing 360,799 tourists.

The first World Expo took place in London in 1851. Since then, the World Expo has been mounted around specific themes that reflect global ambitions for economic, scientific, and technological progress. The theme for Expo Osaka 2025 is “Designing Future Society for Our Lives."