Myaku-Myaku, the official mascot of the 2025 Osaka Kansai Expo, is repositioned in front of Osaka city hall on Oct. 17 after wowing visitors at the just-ended Osaka Kansai Expo. (Kazushige Kobayashi)

Photo/Illutration The Myaku-Myaku statue returns to the front entrance of Osaka city hall in Kita Ward from the Osaka Kansai Expo site on Oct. 17. (Kazushige Kobayashi)

OSAKA--That Myaku-Myaku statue is back.

The official mascot of the just-ended Osaka Kansai Expo has found a temporary resting space at its original location in front of city hall here.

Excluding its base, the statue of Myaku-Myaku lying down is 2 meters tall, 3.3 meters wide and 1.5 meters deep.

It is massively popular with shutterbugs.

Osaka prefectural and municipal authorities arranged for the statue to be transported by truck from the expo venue to the main entrance of Osaka city hall in Kita Ward.

It arrived shortly after 7 p.m. on Oct. 17 and was repositioned by crane as more than 100 people looked on.

A 56-year-old company employee from Suita in the prefecture heard the news of Myaku-Myaku’s return and rushed to the scene with his wife.

“It made everyone excited and gave us energy,” he said. “I want to tell it, ‘Thank you. You did a great job.’”

It will remain on display until Dec. 26. Plans for its future placement are undecided.

It was originally installed in front of the city hall in December 2023 but moved to the expo site at the end of July.

(This article was written by Shinji Hakotani and Takefumi Horinouchi.)

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