Expo 2005

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A part of the Global Loop at Expo 2005

Expo with the Corporate Pavilions in the background

"Wonder Circus", the Electric Power Pavilion

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.

1 Theme
2 Location
3 Characters
4 Attractions
5 Theme songs
6 New Transportation System
7 Holder
8 See also
9 External links

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.

Characters

Morizo (right) and Kiccoro (left)

Morizo and Kiccoro on flower wall

キッコロ (Kiccoro) and モリゾー (Morizo), collectively known as "Morikoro," were created to be Aichi Banpaku's mascots. The popular fluffy green creatures are both from the forest of 瀬戸市 (Setoshi).

Attractions

"Satsuki and Mei's House" a recreation of the house from Hayao Miyazaki's famous movie My Neighbor Totoro, was a sell-out attraction. It re-opened to the public on July 15, 2006.

ASIMO, Honda's humanoid robot, was shown off at the Expo, as one of many of its public appearances.

Theme songs

The official theme song of the Expo was called "I'll Be Your Love," composed by Yoshiki Hayashi, and performed by a female singer named Dahlia, an Okinawan-American musician (then aged 24) from Honolulu, Hawaii. On March 24, 2005, Yoshiki conducted an orchestra and performed the song in an opening ceremony of the Expo.