Osaka 2025 – Gabon creates a sensation with a cultural parade around the world's largest wooden ring

Mavikana
Jul 31
2 min read

Updated: Aug 1

On July 26, 2025, Gabon celebrated its national day at Expo 2025 Osaka, a spectacular parade around Sôsuke Fujimoto's Great Ring. An artistic and political open-air march, it highlighted the Gabonese forest as a source of pride, inspiration, and unity.

World Expo Osaka: Gabon's parade around Sôsuke Fujimoto's Great Ring

Designed by Japanese architect Sôsuke Fujimoto , the nearly one-kilometer-long circular structure — inaugurated in April 2025 — has been recognized by Guinness World Records as the largest wooden construction ever built .

It is around this powerful architectural symbol that the Gabonese delegation, led under the artistic coordination of Mrs. Nina Abouna , General Commissioner of Exhibitions, deployed a large-scale cultural procession . A demonstration of creative diplomacy and shared identity, serving a universal message: the Gabonese forest is alive, sacred, and universal.

Gabon Culture and Biodiversity: A Scenic Journey Led by Franck Ba'Ponga

The artistic direction of the procession was entrusted to Franck Ba'Ponga , a key figure in the Gabonese cultural scene. The concept: to make the parade an immersive performance inspired by the equatorial forest , between elements of nature, traditional symbols, and projections into the future.

This open-air “forest parade” offered a moving story of the sacred bond between the Gabonese people and their environment , mixing music, dance, theater and acrobatics in a choreographed sequence along the entire circular route.

Gabonese artists in the spotlight: Laurianne Ekondo, Kelola, Maman Betty, Cirque de l'Équateur

The richness of Gabonese living heritage is embodied in a plural and powerful artistic program:

Laurianne Ekondo , accompanied by her group, opened the procession with songs imbued with spirituality and modernity.
The collective Les 9 Provinces de Kelola , ambassador of Gabonese traditions, made the wood of the Grand Anneau vibrate with its tribal percussions.
Mother Betty Nabibiga , memory of tradition, embodied the voice of the ancestors and the wisdom of the villages.
The Cirque de l'Équateur captivated the audience with its acrobatics inspired by tropical wildlife, between invisible vines and forest spirits.

Gabon-Japan: a march for cultural diplomacy and shared nature

Beyond its artistic dimension, this parade served as a living diplomatic platform , reaffirming the bonds of brotherhood between Gabon and Japan.

This approach is part of the strategic vision of President Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema , who promotes sustainable and inclusive exploitation of Gabonese potential , starting with the forest, not as a resource to be extracted, but as a pillar of green diplomacy and wellness tourism .

Gabon on the move: an invitation to discover its forest, its culture, its future

With this collective performance, Gabon proved that it can tell its story without words, simply through bodies, sounds, and materials. The forest becomes language, the procession becomes manifest.

The Great Japanese Ring welcomed much more than a passage: it witnessed a vision unfold. A Gabonese march toward a green, united, and rooted future.