- Announced by the GREEN×EXPO Association on 15 September 2026. RING PASS is an admission ticket made from timber of the Grand Ring, the symbol of Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, sold by lottery in a run of 2,027.
- The wood is part of the Grand Ring timber that the City of Yokohama received from the Expo 2025 organiser. The pass is a joint project with the city, which the Association frames as circular use of resources and a way to carry the Expo 2025 legacy into the region.
- The ticket: a season pass, adult only. Cedar, about 100 mm by 150 mm, partly laser-engraved and partly inkjet-printed, with the official logo and a serial number. The grain differs on every piece.
- Price: 50,000 yen including tax, the season pass fare and postage.
- Allocation: 1,227 for new buyers; 300 for people who already hold a season pass, who enter their ticket ID and pay the 22,000 yen difference; 500 for residents of Yokohama buying new. Yokohama residents may enter both the new-buyer and the resident draws but can win only one. One per person. An email address is required.
- How and when to apply: from noon on Friday 18 September to Wednesday 30 September 2026 on a dedicated Ticket Pia site. Oversubscription is settled by lottery, not first come first served.
- Results and delivery: results by email in early October 2026. Passes are posted in February 2027 to the address given. New buyers who win receive the ticket ID needed for timed-entry reservations in the confirmation email, ahead of delivery.
- Winning rights cannot be resold or transferred. No returns, exchanges or reissues, including for differences in grain.
- Not stated: how much timber the city holds and what else it will be used for, and whether the wooden pass itself is scanned at the gate (the sample shows a printed QR code).
Our take
Start with the price. A regular season pass is 28,000 yen for adults, so the 22,000 yen gap is the wooden ticket and postage. Existing pass holders pay exactly that 22,000 yen, which confirms the arithmetic. Whether a piece of Grand Ring cedar is worth a little over 20,000 yen to you is the whole question. As a pass, its value still depends on how often you go, as we argued in how to think about the season pass.
Then the allocation. Of 2,027 passes, 1,227 go to new buyers, 300 to existing pass holders and 500 to Yokohama residents, who may enter two draws. Residents have slightly better odds by design.
The third point is where the Grand Ring timber goes. In where the Grand Ring is going we listed two uses in Yokohama, KAJIMA TREE and the flower bed of the Kanagawa pavilion. This release adds a third and reveals that the City of Yokohama holds some of the timber. How much, and what else it will become, is not stated. We will add it when announced.
Entries open at noon on 18 September, the same day timed-entry reservations open on the official site. Anyone buying a season pass has two things to do that day.
Tips for visitors
- Apply between noon on 18 September and 30 September on the Ticket Pia site (Japanese). It is a lottery, so one entry within the window is enough. You need an email address and a Japanese postal address for delivery in February 2027.
- If you already hold a season pass, have its ticket ID ready and enter the 300-pass draw; you pay the 22,000 yen difference.
- Yokohama residents can enter both the new-buyer and the resident draws.
- If you miss out, the regular season pass costs 28,000 yen on the official site. All ticket types are in ticket types and how to buy.
Our take
Of the 50,000 yen, 28,000 is the regular season pass and 22,000 is the wooden ticket and postage; pass holders pay only the difference. It is the third use of Grand Ring timber in Yokohama after KAJIMA TREE and the Kanagawa pavilion's flower bed, and the first sign that the city holds some of the wood.