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Expo 2005

was a world expo held for 185 days between Friday, March 25 and Sunday, September 25, 2005, in Aichi Prefecture, Japan, east of the city of Nagoya. Japan has also hosted Expo '70 Osaka (World Expo), Expo '75 Okinawa (Specialised Expo), Expo '85 Tsukuba (Specialised Expo), and Expo '90 Osaka (Horticultural Expo) and Expo 2025 Osaka (World Expo).

The site of the expo would become the Expo 2005 Aichi Commemorative Park after it ended and is now the home of Ghibli Park.

Bidding process

Expo 2005 was awarded to Nagoya during a meeting of the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) General Assembly in Monaco on June 12, 1997. Nagoya received 53 votes while the other candidate city, Calgary in Canada, received 27. The Australian city of Gold Coast had been a candidate as well, but decided in March 1997 to bid for Expo 2002 instead. In the weeks leading up to the decision, promoters for both Calgary and Nagoya recruited countries to sign the Convention Relating to International Exhibitions and become members of the BIE so they could vote for the Expo 2005 host. The BIE grew from 47 member states in late April 1997 to 82 on June 12, including three countries which joined on the day of the vote.

Theme

The theme of the Expo was "Nature's Wisdom", with national and corporate pavilions expressing themes of ecological co-existence, renewable technology, and the wonders of nature. In Japanese, this is rendered as Ai-chikyūhaku (愛・地球博), which means (roughly) "Love the Earth Expo," as well as being a play on the name of the host prefecture, 愛知 (Aichi). According to the official website:

We must come together and share our experience and wisdom, in order to create a new direction for humanity which is both sustainable and harmonious with nature.

Location

The main site of the Expo was a forested area in Nagakute, east of Nagoya, covering an area of about . A smaller area of nearby, accessible by gondola from the main site near Seto was also part of the Expo. Great care was taken to build the pavilions out of recycled or recyclable materials, to minimize environmental impact on the site, and to provide environmentally friendly transportation to and within the Expo area.

The cost of the Expo has been estimated at 340 billion yen ($3.3 billion). However, the recorded 22,049,544 visitors greatly exceeded the target of 15,000,000 and the Expo made a profit of over 10 billion yen.

The nearby city of Toyota also held some related events, although there was no special area set aside.

The area in Nagakute can be reached from Nagoya by subway (Higashiyama line) to the last stop in Fujigaoka, followed by a ride on the newly built Linimo magnetic levitation train.

Participants

122 participating countries set a date for their own pavilions.

In regards to the companies and municipality, the ones who were presented are as follows:

Mascots

Morizo (モリゾー) and Kiccoro (キッコロ), collectively known as "Moricoro," (モリコロ) were created to be Aichi Banpaku's mascots. The popular fluffy green creatures are both from the forest of Seto.

Attractions

  • "Satsuki and Mei's House," was a recreation of the house from Hayao Miyazaki's movie My Neighbor Totoro, and located inside the “Forest Experience Zone”. It re-opened to the public on July 15, 2006 and would spark the creation of an entire Ghibli Park, which opened in 2022.
  • ASIMO, Honda's humanoid robot, was shown off at the Expo as one of its many public appearances.
  • The Toyota Partner Robots made their debut.
  • Chickens Suit a clothing range for chickens by Edgar Honetschläger made its debut with chickens on a runway.
  • The Growing Village Pavilion featured a variety of tree shaping art work.
  • The Franklin Spirit at the USA Pavilion, designed by award-winning experience designer Bob Rogers and the design team BRC Imagination Arts, presented the American statesman, Benjamin Franklin, using an innovative multi-plane 3D effect that suspended layered planes of digital media on stage, where Franklin visited the world of 2005 to celebrate his 300th birthday, as he discussed the pending advances in science, technology freedom and enterprise that will improve the lives of people worldwide.
  • The Forest Experience Zone contains three areas, the ‘Nature School Forest’, ‘Satsuki and Mei’s House’, and the ‘Japanese Garden’. This forest explores the relationship between people and nature.
  • The Street Art experience was performed in the park by multi artists, giants reproductions art exhibited open air. The French artist Gailord Bovrisse was one of them.

Theme songs

The official theme song of the Expo was "I'll Be Your Love," composed by Yoshiki, and performed by Dahlia, an Okinawan-American musician (then aged 24) from Honolulu, Hawaii. On March 24, 2005, Yoshiki conducted an orchestra and performed the song for the opening ceremony of the Expo. Pop singer Ayumi Hamasaki also performed a classical version of her single "A Song Is Born" on the event's opening day.

New transportation system

Holder

The holder was Japan Association for the 2005 World Exposition whose president was Shoichiro Toyoda, the honorary president of Toyota.

See also

References

External links