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Several Jamaican entertainers will perform at a cultural extravaganza on Independence Day at Expo 2025 Osaka, currently taking place in Kansai, Japan.

Commissioner General of Section, Jamaica Pavilion, Maureen Smith, told THE WEEKEND STAR that each country was able to select a day to showcase its culture and Jamaica was approved for August 6, Independence Day, which the expo labels a National Day.

"Headlining the whole cultural experience we have Jesse Royal, Naomi Cowan, Yasus Afari, Akeem Fennel,the Digicel Rising Stars winner, and a group of four dancers from Dance Xpressionz, who will also present at a two-hour concert following the National Day ceremony," Smith explained, adding that poetry and dance workshops are scheduled for August 4 and 5.

For the concert on August 6, a group of students and teachers from Westmoreland, a parish which was twinned with the city of Tottori - the capital of the Tottori Prefecture (district) - in Japan in 2015, will also be present.

"The Tottori Prefecture has sponsored the group to come to Tottori and also to perform on our National Day. In addition to that, we have Dave McAnuff who is the lead singer for Mackaruffin and Mackaroots Bands. They have been here [in Japan] for many years and they are a respected band which has carried reggae music all over the world, so they will be featured at our concert as well," Smith shared.

The celebration closes out on August 7 with a DJ jam session and street dance at which Japanese sound system Mighty Crown will be honoured.

"Sammy T from Mighty Crown will be present ... and we will also have Cornbread from Tokyo who has his own dance group and so they will join Dance Xpressionz to complement DJ Delano from Renaissance and Oja from Jah Works. We are doing a real connection between Jamaica and Japan to showcase the culture and really show the best of Jamaican music," Smith said. She also noted that "Being here among 160 other countries, naturally we are showcasing our culture to the world and to all the visitors who will come".

Commenting on the influence of reggae music in Japan, which is "extensive", Smith said that the Japanese "have a good knowledge of reggae music and are very aware of our culture".

"You see it when persons come to the space. In fact quite a few persons come in their Bob Marley shirts and their reggae colours and you have kids who will come and ask about Bob Marley because they are also being exposed to it either at home through their parents or at school, because we do have a lot of [Jamaican] teachers here who will preserve that part of the culture," she said. Smith noted that the locals consume a lot of Jamaican music, from ska to dancehall.

"We have a lot of musicians here who do reggae. On July 1, we hosted International Reggae Day and it evolved into something so huge. In fact, we had to pivot and have eight deejays and one Nyabinghi band and these were all Japanese. They were very well received. Closing your eyes, you would not know that it wasn't Jamaicans on the stage. And we were very happy about that ... we could have shown the connection between Jamaica and Japan," she said.

Expo 2025 Osaka opened on April 13 and runs until October 13. The theme is 'Designing Future Society for Our Lives' and Jamaica is featured in the 'Connecting Lives' sub-theme, with the Pavilion branded 'Out of Many, One People: Let's Link Up'.