Things have been looking up for the Osaka Expo. Though Osaka governor Hirofumi Yoshimura lamented that the advance ticket sale goal of 14 million was 'impossible' back in March, the event has since gained its stride. Ten million visitors had been welcomed by June, and numbers have only continued to rise. According to Japan Times, the Expo has officially hit its break-even point of 18 million tickets as of August 8.
It's still too soon to say whether the event will be profitable or not, though. Operational costs for the Expo are an estimated ¥116 billion, and an incident as simple as a temporary shutdown due to inclement weather could set earnings back a whopping ¥600 million per day. Furthermore, organisers have until October 13 to reach their goal of 23 million tickets, but with a current weekly average of 400,000 to 500,000 tickets sold, only time will tell whether they'll make it. Fingers crossed!
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