Some attendees ended up sleeping at the venue after failing to leave the site, with pavilions opened up to provide food and shelter

Services on the Chuo Line, the only direct route to Yumeshima, the artificial island that hosts the expo, were halted at 9.30pm – 30 minutes before closing time – because of an electrical failure, Kyodo news agency reported.

While the Osaka Metro partially restored the service before midnight, Yumeshima was so overwhelmed with people trying to leave via the station that entry was temporarily restricted, according to the Asahi Shimbun newspaper.

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