LET'S EXPO wheelchair and mobility help at the expo: bookings open 19 January 2027

• Bookings for LET’S EXPO’s on-site mobility support at the expo open on Tuesday 19 January 2027 on the LET’S EXPO website (lets-expo.jp). The service is called “会場内移動サポート” in Japanese; “on-site mobility support” is our translation.
• It is for wheelchair users who come without someone to push them, or without enough helpers, and for visually impaired visitors. Both include a volunteer who accompanies and keeps an eye on the visitor while they go around the grounds.
• Fees and how many people can be helped each day are not in the announcement.
• More than 1,000 volunteers have signed up since recruitment began on 28 July. In July the organisers said they were aiming for about 2,000. They say this is more than the roughly 700 who helped at Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai.
• Volunteers will take online training in November and January and role-play sessions in February and March, then work at the venue from 19 March to 26 September 2027.
• The volunteer uniform was designed by architect Takashi Yonezawa, who designed “Toilet 5” at Expo 2025. A crowdfunding campaign on the Yomiuri Shimbun’s “idea market” runs from 1 November to 25 December 2026, with a target of 5 million yen, to help pay for the support.

Our take

For families who want help getting a relative around the grounds, what this announcement settles is the booking date. Timed-entry reservations and the four-station shuttle-bus bookings have been open since 18 September 2026. Support bookings open four months later, two months before the expo starts.

If you want to secure a popular entry slot or bus early, you will have to pick your day before you know whether support is available. Whether a support slot is free on that day will not be known until 19 January. Fees and the number of people accepted per day have not been published either.

As of 31 October, more than 1,000 volunteers had signed up. That reaches half the July target of about 2,000, and is more than the roughly 700 at Expo 2025 that the organisers compare it with. Under the July schedule, applications closed on 11 September; this announcement does not say whether there will be another round.

Tips for visitors

• If you reserve entry before support bookings open, a ticket that lets you change your visit date up to three times, such as the one-day ticket, leaves room to move your day to match a free support slot after 19 January. Booking steps for each ticket are in our ticket guide.
• Support bookings open on Tuesday 19 January 2027 on the LET’S EXPO website (lets-expo.jp). Check fees and capacity in the notices around that date.
• Lifts and toilets at the four shuttle-bus stations are covered in our guide for strollers and wheelchairs.