It has already been 35 years since “EXPO 1970 OSAKA JAPAN”. And now, “EXPO 2005 AICHI JAPAN” is being held. On July 9th, almost the middle point of the holding period of 185 days, I tried to have a look during the fine day intervals of this rainy season. How are the trials different from past Expos? What is the message?

This expo is taking place in two venues; a Nagakute area and a Seto area which are next to each other. This time, I moved around the Nagakute area staging pavilions from each country. It is not too much to say that this is the first and momentious EXPO of the 21st century, bringing up lots of topics including the main theme of “Nature’s Wisdom”, the relationship between human and nature, de-develop, coexistence with ecology and amenity, and so on. Also, you cannot experience the enjoyment, pleasure and deep emotion of a festival with 120 countries and 4 international organization anywhere except EXPO.

I arrived at the station of the EXPO venue by a linear motor car called “Linemo”. The first things I noticed were passageways with lots of trees and a global loop. Pavilions between the forest and ponds, which were distributed to each area called global common, harmonized with the scenery and directed a beautiful space.

The broad venue with roughness taking in the idea of nature has a various transport facilities. There was a global loop first.

The circumference was 2.6 km with a height of tens of meters, as if it was the wide deck on a beach or harbor. This was a delightful facility in the hot weather with a maximum temperature 32 degrees as mist poured from a shade on top.

Both sides have a structure along which people can walk, and vehicles can pass through the center. There were also IMTS (bus), gondola, escalator, elevator, and so on. All these vehicles use clean energy like fuel cells, which meets the theme of this EXPO.