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
Sites we saw
We made a mad dash for the Toyota exhibit, possibly the most popular exhibit, and managed to snag tickets. In the end I think the Toyota exhibit was not worth it because the robots just rolled around and played a musical instrument. Plus they played an annoying “Oh When The Saints” for about 10 minutes. The chair/car things were really cool but since we couldn’t try them out it was jusy eye candy. They had a Japanese rapper (there’s something about a Japanese rapper that is so inherently not cool). They had interpetive dancing with saran wrapped people fluttering around like idiots. If they had only showcased the technology and showed some movies or graphs, it would’ve been way better.
Toyota i-unit car/chair
We (I) did not want to wait in the lines for the other popular exhibits like Hitachi or Toshiba because the lines were sometimes up to THREE hours long. Those three hours would’ve been way better spent exploring the pavilions of the different countries. I heard from others that the Hitachi exhibit is really cool but then again, they said the same of Toyota.
The line up for Toshiba
We went to the Mitsubishi exhibit which featured an interesting question: What If the Moon Didn’t Exist? It featured a couple of robots, a cartoon film, and then a finale movie in a theater which gave some background information on how the moon was formed and what effects the moon has on Earth. It closed with a segment of what animals on Earth may have looked like without the moon’s gravitational effects. To end the film they showed this on screen: So let’s share our wisdom of the environment. If this exhibit were a term paper, I’d give it a big fat F because they didn’t quite answer the question posed. To add insult to injury, the English translation system they used here was pathetic. First I had to carry a little radio with a shitty earphone (the kind they gave in airplanes circa 1972) and then to preven theft they put this big metal ring on the thing and expected me to put this thing around my neck. I have boycotted Mitsubishi since.
The Mitsubishi robot guide
The JR Central Pavilion was sort of coo. They had a model of a future magnetic rail train and a 3d movie too. I loved this place because the movie was so boring I fell asleep and felt so refreshed after it was finished. This was definitely a good rest station as it was free, had good air conditioning, and the line up wasn’t too bad.
On the topic of transportation, taking people from Nagoya city to the Expo grounds was a newly constructed maglev rail (Japan’s first one ever) called Linimo. It would’ve been cool but it travelled at such a slow speed and it was so jerky that it could’ve been any train and no one would’ve noticed. Taking people around the expo grounds though were some driverless buses that were pretty cool. They followed sensors on the road and were quite comfortable, albeit a bit scary. We also went on a gondola that took us straight across the expo. That was a nice way to see everything but the line up at peak times was amazingly long too.
One of the main attractions was the well preserved remains of a wooly mammoth from Siberia. After a tour through the Global House which was pretty cool, you’re led to a automated walkway that goes past a refridgerated showcase for the mammoth. I had never seen mammoth remains but I guess I can scratch that off the list now too. There is a complete mammoth skeleton on display in the Russian pavilion without the long wait time.
The mammoth skeleton in the Russian pavilion
We saw a whole bunch of the pavilions from different countries. The expo grounds were divided into the different continents. With the exception of Africa we pretty much went though each continent and saw most of the pavilions. We ran out of time by the time we entered Africa. It was too bad too because some of the buildings looked cool from the outside. My top and bottom 3 pavilions are:
Worst ones
- France: they had a cool idea of showing a movie on all four walls and the ceiling in this big empty room. Only they showed this rather depressing movie of how humanity is fucking the planet through pollution, poverty, and wasting natural resources. Oh and a mandatory, “It’s America’s fault” message in there too. People around me were heard to have said, “Can we leave now?”
- Canada: yes my own country. Even though they gave fellow Canadians a little present (I got a nice gold colored pin while coworkers have received pens), the content of the pavilion sucked. There were two movies that followed a bunch of nobodies going about their lives in jobs no one cared about and also random shots of geese, caribou, water, and sky. Canada is a lot more than this but no one could really tell. We did get our picture taken by a woman who wore a giantic backpack with a monitor and camera attached to it.
- America: well first there was a metal detector at the entrance. It kind of summed up America as it is today. Then while the theme of the expo was on the environment, the American pavilion featured movies about Ben Franklin. I highly doubt that anyone outside of North America cares about Franklin, no matter how much stuff he invented.
Best ones
- Switzerland: first they had awesome air conditioning. Then they had an interesting use of the old looking flashlights that doubled as information radios when you beamed the flashlight at these targets along their exhibit. It was the coolest idea of getting information (compare this to the stupid translation radio at the Mitsubishi exhibit). Last, you get to see Einstein’s Swiss passport. Who would’ve known.
- Australia: they had a cool system for English. While watching this movie about a legend from the indigenous people, if you stand within this white square on the floor, you will hear English, if you’re standing outside of it, you’ll hear Japanese. Again, compare this to the stupid translation radio at the Mitsubishi exhibit. Then they had a big giant platypus. What more can you ask for?
- Cambodia: they had a lot of beautiful photographs and the place was built to resemble Angkor Wat. I didn’t know much about Cambodia before coming to Japan and this pavilion helped show how beautiful this country is.
The giant platypus
Around the expo
There were many rest stations strategically located. This was a great idea because it was about 35 degrees for the whole day and the sun was out in full force. Thankfully the many vending machines were priced fairly - they did not gouge drink prices as I think any other place would have. Food was reasonable at food stands but in the sit-down places the prices suddenly shot up a lot.
A very cozy rest station
The entire expo can be seen in a full day. If we had another day there we would’ve seen everything. We ended up missing the continent of Africa and any country pavilion with a long line. A lot of the pavilions were just people trying to hock shitty, overpriced souvenirs. It was sad to see this pathetic display from these countries. The best countries tried to educate people in a creative way instead of just give an image that they wanted to make a quick buck at the expo.
Going home
We made the fatal mistake of going home when the expo closed and therefore going home when everyone else went home. The linimo, as I said, is a slow train and a fairly small one too. We ended up waiting about an hour from the exit to the train while people kept budging and shoving. One bitch was using her baby and the baby stroller to crash into people in hopes of getting in front. I hope her baby grows up hating her.
The expo ran from March 25 to September 25, 2005 and attracted over 21 million visitors. So I guess today is the very last day and therefore it’s too late to go see it. Oh yeah, we went to Nagoya on June 23rd to the 25th so I guess this review is a few months late. Sorry.
The expo was a great experience where I got to see a whole bunch of different things from different cultures. We were exhausted by the end but glad to have been there. Go see all my expo pictures.
September 26th, 2005 at 08:52
I must ask what’s up with the mascots. They look like some stock Japanese cutesy cartoon characters designed by some Sanrio subsidiary. Do they actually serve a purpose or are they as useless as Expo Ernie?
September 26th, 2005 at 17:33
I assume so. Aren’t all mascots useless? Shouldn’t the main thing, be it an expo or a sports team, be so popular that they don’t need lovable, cuddly, booger-like mascots?
September 26th, 2005 at 18:04
No wonder I had to approve your comment, Dennjis. Dennis had already been approved.
September 27th, 2005 at 03:53
That must have been my east-Indian alter-ego.