In recent years a number of events have brought Japan to the attention of the world: the 1998 Nagano Olympics, the 2002 soccer World Cup, and the rickety Kyoto protocol. Now it’s the turn of the 2005 World Exposition, familiarly known as the 2005 Expo. In this issue of the JMI newsletter, we take a look at some of the more interesting aspects of this global jamboree.

‘Forest Child’ everywhere

Nowadays, there are few places one can go in Tokyo without running into billboards, posters, wrapped buses and other promotional material featuring two oddly-shaped cartoon characters: Kiccoro, the ‘Forest Child’, and Morizo, the ‘Forest Grandfather’. These are the uber-cute (or “kawaii”) mascots of the 2005 World Exhibition.
The two characters are encountered even more frequently in Nagoya, where local enthusiasm for the Expo runs high. In their hometown, Kiccoro and Morizo can be seen on lunch boxes, dangling from keitai (cell phone) straps, and even adorning underwear. All this is typical of trend-driven Japan.

Solving the world’s problems

The exposition park which Kiccoro and Morizo are so shamelessly promoting has a wide variety of attractions, most of which make it well worth a visit.
In line with the Expo’s generally green theme, ‘The Forest Experience Zone’ allows visitors to hike through woods, climb trees, and conduct nature experiments. And what Japanese attraction would be complete without a manga reference; this is provided by a reproduction of a house from ‘My Neighbor Totoro’, the children’s film that achieved wide commercial success both in Japan and elsewhere.
Next, the Interactive Fun Zone features a show called ‘Mountain of Dreams’. This is the work of anime director Mamoru Oshii and is projected on to the world’s largest floor screen. The Central Zone includes an open-air plaza and koi pond, and as host country, Japan gets its own zone, with a number of traditional exhibitions. The Seto Area, near the back of the park, includes a citizens’ pavilion, which has the ambitious aim of being a place where people “can come together to try to solve the world’s problems”!


The Future of Technology

Of particular interest is the Corporate Pavilion Zone (actually, this sounds much less severe in Japanese!). This serves as a venue for companies to show-off their technological innovativeness. Visitors can witness human-like robots playing musical instruments, (including trumpets) as well as the highly impressive I-foot and I-unit – “mobility innovations” produced by Toyota. Looking a lot like robots straight out of the Japanese animation found in other pavilions, these mechanized mobility suits are designed to help the disabled get around; walk, climb stairs, and travel at a relatively high rate of speed. This is the Japanese eclectic mix of imagination and technology at its best!

Facing the crowds?

The Expo 2005 park is large and there is clearly too much to see in just one day. Moreover there are long lines for the more popular attractions (over 3 hours in some cases). Conversely, many of the less-hyped areas are easier to attend.
Overall, the park has not been reaching its projected attendance targets, and quite a few pavilions are fairly deserted. While the previous expo in Japan, held in the 1970’s, yielded some 65 million attendees, only 3.8 million have so far attended the 2005 Expo at the time of writing and the six-month Expo ends on September 25th. The organizers will be lucky to break even; previous exhibitions in Lisbon and Germany recorded substantial deficits, which had to be picked up by the host countries.
Several factors explain weak attendances, not least of which has been the opening of a ‘Pokemon’ theme park nearby, based on the ultra-popular animation series.


But worth a visit

Nevertheless, feedback from attendees has been largely positive, and the site is certainly worth spending a day or two exploring. The logistics of getting there from within Japan are not difficult and the Expo is well sign-posted in a number of different languages.
Interestingly enough, visa restrictions on all Chinese, Taiwanese, and South Koreans have been lifted for the duration of Expo 2005. This was despite a few domestic outcries that this would trigger a flood of organized crime and illegal workers. It shows that while some small elements of the country remain reluctant to receive foreign visitors, the vast majority are open to people, cultures and products from overseas. They are even happy sit down with fellow global citizens at Expo 2005 and take a crack at “trying to solve the world’s problems”!
For more information on Expo 2005, please visit the official site (available in 7 languages) at: http://www.expo2005.or.jp/