Ben Murphy smiling at the seminar holding the mascot of the EXPO, whose name is Myaku Myaku.
Friday, 11 October 2024

On Wednesday 10th October, final-year student of the BA Applied Languages, Ben Murphy, attended an Ireland Japan Chamber of Commerce business seminar at Forvis Mazars in Dublin. The event was about the upcoming World EXPO 2025, which will be taking place in Osaka, Japan.

There were many Japanese corporates attending the seminar, including SMBC, Electroroute/Mitsubishi, Takeda, Japan Tobacco, Yamamori, Sumitomo Trust Bank and Softbank. This is what Ben says about the attendees: "I was very fortunate to meet up with so many great people contributing to the Ireland-Japan Chamber of Commerce, including director Dominic Keogh, Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) director Colm Hayes and Ambassador Maruyama-san for the IJCC’s meeting on how to leverage Ireland’s investment in the Japanese World Expo in Osaka."

Ireland will have a significant presence in the World EXPO, and the DFA is working hard to complete their site in time. The theme for Ireland at the EXPO is 'Creativity Connects People', and Ben got to a sneak peek into what the site will look like when completed. "We were invited to see the incredible progress that has already been made on the Irish Expo site (the Pavilion) and to discuss how we can transform the Pavilion into an interesting, educational and engaging experience for the estimated 28 million people who will visit from next April to October."

Overall, attending this business seminar was extremely beneficial for Japanese Section student Ben Murphy. He even got to meet (and hold) the mascot of the EXPO, whose name is Myaku Myaku, which means "steadily pulsing". The mascot symbolises the continued success of the World EXPO. These are Ben's final remarks about his experience: "It was a lovely opportunity to catch up with some amazing people in the industry, and to see how opportunities like this contribute to the huge boost in Japanese-Irish trade, which has significantly grown at a steady and rapid pace since 2020".

The Japanese Section will offer more opportunities for our students to network and meet people in the industry, so that relationships between Ireland and Japan continue to grow and strengthen.