Photos

Expo 2005 was the World's Fair held in Aichi Prefecture, Japan, east of the city of Nagoya. The Expo ran for 185 days between March 25 and September 25, 2005. Aichi 2005 was Japan's second Universal Exposition, the first being Osaka's Expo '70 (1970), but Japan's fifth if the Special Expositions of Okinawa's Expo '75 (1975), Tsukuba's Expo '85 and Osaka's Expo '90 are also counted.

THEME
The theme of the Expo is "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". 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 1.85km² (450 acres). A smaller area of 0.15km² (40 acres) nearby, accessible by gondola from the main site near Seto is also part of the Expo. Great care has been taken to build the pavilions out of recycled or recyclable materials, to lessen the 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 easily 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.

This shot was taken two years ago when we visited the Aichi Expo in Nagoya. We ended up staying until almost closing time, thus most of my other photos were night shots. After a long day of touring the place, I found this scene after we had dinner. I thought the contrast of the green and the red plus lighting would turn it into a uniquely japanese shot. I hope it did.