Japan: Day V - World Exposition

At breakfast Ali noticed Kinkos new hair cut and told her it looked nice. The blue in her hair was even brighter. We were eating at the usual place just across the street. When we returned home, I sat in the sitting room waiting for everyone to sort themselves out. I looked around the room which reminded me a lot of Baba's apartment back in Chicago. Mountains of objects stacked high on shelves and tons of electronic devices. A child swing, karaoke machine, the largest collection of tapes, fake bamboo rods holding a large collection of hanging garments fresh from the dry cleaners, scales and an impressive collection of clocks - I counted 6 in total.

Kaz entered the room with a new riddle in his hand. He had printed it from his computer. "I was to go with another friend first whether I went in exsp with three people today." I wondered what on earth that could mean. Maybe if I continued reading it would become obvious... "I go to USA with him, and there can be unpleasant sushi and the thing that I met." "let's reserve a hotel of Kyoto before going". I paused for a while looking at Kaz's eager face. I understood the bit about reserving a hotel before we go to Kyoto but the other paragraphs had a long way to go before they made sense. Eventually it became obvious that he wanted to bring a friend with him to the Expo which was today's itinerary. The World Exposition, which is situated within the Aichi prefecture in Japan, opened in March and is only running until September for a short duration of only 185 days. We were lucky enough to have the opportunity to see it and have tickets bought for us (thank you Kinko). Kaz's "best friend" Takashi Hasegawa was sitting in his car waiting for us outside. Ali, Kaz and I got in the car and began the 2 hour drive. Kaz asked us if we would like to watch a DVD. We said yes and selected The Last Samurai. This effectively helped pass the time until we stopped for lunch at a place just off the expressway. I headed straight for the meat on a stick. Kaz and Tak went to the unusual vending machine. They put their money in and selected their desired meal by pushing on of the many picture buttons. The machine issued a receipt which they then exchanged for food at the counter. I thought that this was such a great set up for a busy canteen. I took advantage of the toilets and then bought some fudge from the shop. It was fudge with sunflower and poppy seeds in it. Interesting.

The theme for Expo 2005 is Natures Wisdom and includes exhibitions from all around the world relating to this theme. Tak parked the car in the Expo parking lot where we had to get a coach to the main area. It was a 20 minute ride along a brand new expressway which had just been built to accommodate the traffic. As we pulled into the entrance I saw all kinds of ferris wheels, buildings and transport systems in the distance. We entered at the North gate which was near the corporate pavilions. Unfortunately they were all fully booked for the day. These pavilions required a ticket in advance for a particular time slot. It was only 11:00am so they must have went fast. We took the slowest form of transport imaginable to "Global Common 3" at the other end of the park so that we could get a good view of the whole area and help orientate ourselves. One of the first pavilions we entered was Croatia. We were herded like cattle into a small dark room. The doors closed behind us. A moving montage of images was projected onto opposing walls depicting life in Croatia. After this brief introductory audio visual stimuli we were ushered into the next room. We walked along the large white floor space made up of wood and gravel. I wondered why they would choose such a colour and allow so many people to walk on it. Surely they would have to repaint over the dirt every week? Again, like cattle, we had been rounded up and stood on a dark platform with a great view of the big white floor. The platform started to rise. It elevated us about 6 meters to what looked like a viewing balcony all around the room. We all found a space and gazed down at the large white space beneath. All of a sudden, a movie was projected from above onto the white floor below. The film was shot from above so it felt like we were flying around Croatia and meeting the locals. It was a cool idea and was more interesting than most other pavilions from less developed countries. I wondered what relation their exhibit had to the theme of natures wisdom. We continued onwards to "Global Common 4". Switzerland was the next big one. They had built a faux mountain where we could walk around inside and learn all kinds of interesting facts about Switzerland and their contributions to the world with the help of nature. We were each given a small handheld device - an old torch from World War II. It had been slightly modified to include and mp3 player and special laser pointer. To hear information about a particular exhibit, you simply pointed the device at the target and pressed the button. By holding it to your ear you could listen to the recorded voice. Unfortunately it wasn't Roger Moore. Towards the end we climbed out of the mountain to the viewing deck above. A great faux view of the alps could be seen in the distance. I admired the construction methods for building such a unique structure. In the Swedish pavilion, Kaz made a fool out of me. At the very end of the exhibition there was the opportunity to print a message onto a paper boat and sail it along with other peoples meticulously folded masterpieces. Excited by this simple activity, I continued to follow the instructions on screen. I wrote a simple message "Kris McKnight, England". It printed out. I was assuming it would also print dotted lines and provide instructions on how to make the boat. It didn't. I got frustrated after several failed attempts and ended up scrumpling the sheet of paper into a ball. Kaz took it out of my hand and placed it in the water. My message was still visible. I watched people laugh as it sailed past them up ahead. It definitely stood out from all the others. Similarly, the UK pavilion was a little disappointing but interesting none the less. We were running out of time and only managed to fit in one other country before we had to make our way back home. We decided that the last zone should be Japan. It was here in "Nagoya City" where I learnt about all kinds of crafts and even got to see people making paper, carving wood, engraving metal and weaving cotton before experiencing the largest kaleidoscope in the world. The tower was about 40 meters tall and triangular in shape. Once inside, you could look up to see the incredible moving patterns assisted with lights and chimes above. We spent another hour in the gift shop before making our way to the exit. I wish we had more time to explore but was happy with what we did get to see.

We stopped for dinner at the same place we had our early lunch and finished watching the movie in Tak's car. Before going home, he took a slight diversion and drove us up to the top of a mountain for night views of the Aichi prefecture.

Good night Japan x