Meet our team on the ground in Osaka
As Expo 2025 Osaka is derigged, recycled and repurposed, we can finally celebrate the individuals who made Yumeshima Island their home for the last six months.
This is an unapologetic appreciation post for the Bray Leino Events team on the ground. Round of applause please for Nicholas Crossland, Emily Tolley, and Olly Hares.
Expo years
We had full operational responsibility for the UK Pavilion, including a bar, restaurant, gift shop, and an immersive visitor attraction that ran almost constantly throughout Expo and welcomed upwards of 2,000 people daily.
Then there was the schedule of live events – trade missions, art, dance & music, diplomatic meetings, exhibitions - some lasting for days, even weeks.
UK Pavilion hosted a live delivery day at least every other day, high profile, high complexity, for six months.
“They say Expo years are like a dog-years,” says event director Olly Hares. “So, one year at Expo is like seven normal years. I think that’s pretty accurate.”
“They say Expo years are like a dog-years. So, one year at Expo is like seven normal years. I think that’s pretty accurate.”
Event Director, Olly Hares
Expo rhythm
With the usual support eight time zones away in the UK, we needed our best people on the ground creating solutions as they were needed.
The reality of taking up residence in a freshly constructed building (UK Pavilion) on a purpose-built site (Yumeshima Island) meant the early days were an intense round of ‘tweak and refine’ across virtually every aspect.
The meticulously planned queuing system, for instance, lasted about five minutes before being reworked.
The team turned the 8-hour difference into a rhythm, creating new processes as they went; streamlining the event plans down to their crucial bones; joining UK project calls weeks out to make sure plans reflected the reality on the ground.
UK teams invested months planning large-scale events, only to hand them off across eight time-zones to the Osaka team. “We could see the hard work happening in the UK,” says senior event manager Emily Tolley. “It made our lives easier.”
“I can’t imagine it was easy to just hand over,” adds Olly. “There was that trust, respect and gratitude on both sides to be able to do that.”
Expo lessons
Emily says the last six months revealed new depths of resilience she never knew she had. “I was there at the start of this project,” she says. “My stubbornness meant I had to see it through to the end.”
They say Expo delivered lessons about the importance of switching off and focusing on getting the job done instead of taking everything personally.
Messages and check-ins with colleagues back home kept them grounded and connected.
And a rotating team of supporting characters flew out periodically, bringing vital fresh energy.
Expo culture
“Expo brings so many different nationalities together,” says Nicholas Crossland. “It was fascinating to watch everyone adjust to the Japanese culture and see how the Japanese adapted to accommodate them.”
“The Japanese are so respectful”, agrees Emily. “There’s no such thing as a bad or menial job in Japan - everyone takes pride in what they do because they understand their value as part of the community.
“One of our suppliers learned basic conversational English while we were there, just so he could speak to us without using Google translate,” she says. “They take such pride in their surroundings and their country and their work.”
“And queuing,” says Olly. “The Japanese put everyone else to shame on queuing. They’ll bring seats, food, drink. Five hours? No problem, they’re waiting it out. Amazing.”
“Expo brings so many different nationalities together says. It was fascinating to watch everyone adjust to the Japanese culture and see how the Japanese adapted to accommodate them.””
Group Event Director, Nicholas Crossland
