Aichi 2005: Expo
September 25, 2005
The theme of this year’s expo was the environment and was located in Nagoya, Japan’s third largest city. Our trip started with a night in Nagoya as we enjoyed some local Nagoya delights.
The start
Early in the morning, we got there about two hours before the gate opened and there were about two hundred people already lining up at the North Gate. The reason people wanted (and needed) to push every minute was because they used a really stupid system to get into the more popular exhibits. You line up for a ticket that gives you the right to line up for the exhibit at a certain time. Those pre-tickets were given at certain times and always ran out really early. This only encouraged people to run and trample over everyone. There were online bookings but these closed way in advance.
Once the gates opened people slowly filtered through the gates. Each person had their bags searched but I’m pretty sure I could’ve snuck in a barrel of plutonium as the gate attendant didn’t quite seem awake. We were stuck for a few minutes because this 80+ year old man decided it was a good idea to bring a suitcase. From here we had a full day of exploration ahead and here are some of the highlights of our day.
The expo mascots
