Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said Tuesday that same-day admission tickets will be introduced for the 2025 World Exposition to be held in Osaka.

This was announced at a meeting at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo with Miyagi Gov. Yoshihiro Murai, who heads the National Governors' Association, and others.

"We hope to actively promote the point that people can still enjoy the Expo without an advance ticket, as well as the simplified ticket purchasing procedure," Ishiba said.

Also on Tuesday, the Japan Association for the 2025 World Exposition said that the same-day tickets will be sold every day in front of the entrance gate.

The association also said that the "season" pass, priced at ¥30,000 for adults, which allows unlimited entry during the Expo period from April to October, will be discounted to ¥24,000 for those who visit between April and May.

Previously, the association planned to admit holders of this pass to the Expo venue only from 11 a.m. The association now said that this limit was abolished.

These measures were decided in response to sluggish sales of advance tickets.

The number of advance tickets sold stood at 7.87 million as of Wednesday, only 56.2% of the sales target of 14 million tickets.

The 2025 Expo association had made it a basic principle for all visitors to buy advance tickets online and book their time slots in order to avoid congestion. But many complained that this procedure was too complicated.

In a meeting with Ishiba on Feb. 5, Osaka Gov. Hirofumi Yoshimura suggested improving the ticket selling system. Ishiba hinted at introducing same-day tickets.