Expo Staff - Diego Lapido - Behind the Scenes

So you have attended Expo(s) and had a wonderful time. While there are many things to enjoy at a World Expo such as the architecture, pavilion exhibits, presentations and entertainment; another interesting interaction can be with the staff that works at an Expo. Often it is an educational and entertaining time conversing with staff at a pavilion or someone working in other areas of the Expo site. You may wonder how did this individual end up working at Expo and where are they from.

In this piece we feature Diego Lapido, a server at ‘Oishii! Germany’, the restaurant at the German Pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka.

Photo Credit: German Pavilion at the Expo 2025 in Osaka © German Expo Pavilion / Hotaka Matsumara

To start with, the restaurant’s name - the Japanese word “oishii“ means “delicious” or “tasty” and is often used to describe the flavour of exceptional cuisine. “Oishii! Germany” blends traditional German hospitality with cosmopolitanism and the culinary diversity of the German states.

Photo Credit: German Pavilion website

Cesar Corona and I dined at Oishii! Germany for dinner one night in early August. We were seated on the outside patio, and our server was Diego - a friendly, energetic and attentive young man. He was kind enough to share some time with us during our visit to tell us about his Expo experience.

Diego explaining his time at Expo with expomuseum.com Deputy Director Jason Griffing

While Diego is not German, he is very capable of his job explaining the German cuisine and did a fine job attending to us. So where is he from? Diego harkens from Gualeguaychu, Argentina. Recently he had been living in Hokkaido on the northern island of Japan. He had seen information about the Expo 2025 and thought it would be interesting to experience the Expo and also Osaka itself. He also felt he would be able to improve his Japanese language skills by working at the Expo. Diego has experience with restaurants, so food was his first choice. While a bit shy, it was motivating for him to work with the public and meet the many people he encounters. It has been a great experience for him.

His favorite dish at Oishii! Germany are the sausages, which are homemade with a beer of course! Cesar and I can confirm they were quite tasty. He told us the Japanese customers think the food is amazing, which surprised him since they are more used to dining on many types of soups and noodles. The presentation of the food is much different than what the Japanese are accustomed to and they really enjoyed it.

Appetizing dishes from Oishii! Germany Restaurant

After his experience working at Expo 2025 for the German Pavilion Restaurant, he very much wants to work at Expo 2027 Belgrade if the opportunity presents itself. He would especially enjoy it if he could work in the German Pavilion at the next Expo with the same staff he works with currently. We plan on seeing him there! As most attendees know the Expo even during slower months was very busy and Diego has not had much time to visit other pavilions but he did say he really enjoyed the Germany Pavilion of course.

Diego said the hardest thing for him at the Expo and Osaka was the weather, saying the heat and humidity can wear you down. However, he is a strong person and he always offers to work on the outside patio of the restaurant since many other of his coworkers want to be inside with the air conditioning. Diego would love to stay in Japan, but he also has an opportunity to work in Florida in the United States and he has not made up his mind yet.

As our visit came to a close we posed together for a picture and thanked Diego for his time with us and for sharing some of his Expo experience with us.  Danke, Muchas Gracias and Arigatō Diego!

Expomuseum.com Directors Cesar Corona & Jason Griffing with Diego -center