With only four months to go until it must unveil detailed plans for its 2025 World Expo bid, Osaka's leaders plan to use the rest of the summer and early autumn to ramp up domestic and international efforts to raise the region's profile and tout its advantages over arch-rival Paris .
Two other bid cities, Ekaterinburg, Russia, and Baku, Azerbaijan, are deemed long shots.
But with the prospect of receiving strong political assistance for the bid clouded by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's political woes, and criticism from local businesses that the public relations strategy is too vague, how effectively Osaka can wage an international campaign for the event is now the key issue.
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