Step into the UAE pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka, and the first thing you notice is the scent. It's warm, earthy and oddly nostalgic. This is not a man-made fragrance, but something organic and real.

For Emiratis, it evokes the memory of drying dates in the summer. For Japanese visitors, it is something comforting and familiar, even if they cannot quite place it, says Shaikha Al Ketbi, the UAE Pavilion's creative director.

[...] The pavilion is built from about two million date palm fronds, arranged into 90 towering columns.

— Read more in How two million palm fronds create UAE pavilion’s unique scent at Expo 2025 Osaka at The National.