Japan World's Fair

aka EXPO 70

Known as Bampaku Hakurankai in Japanese, this was the first world exposition ever held in Asia. It was staged in a suburb of Osaka from March 15 through September 13, 1970. The theme for the fair was "Progress and Harmony for Mankind."

The site of EXPO 70 covered over 815 acres, and featured some 124 exhibits and attractions -- from 76 countries, four international organizations, one foreign government (Hong Kong), three U.S. states, three Canadian provinces, two U.S. cities, one German city, two corporations, and 32 domestic organizations.

Among the most notable exhibits were two extensive international collections of arts and crafts -- a display of great art treasures lent by world's great museums, and a collection of almost 2,000 folkcrafts from 90 countries. In addition, the U.S. Pavillion featured a large moon rock brought back by Apollo 11 astronauts the previous year, and the Fuji Group Pavilion featured the first-ever IMAX film, the Canadian-produced Tiger Child.

EXPO 70 drew a total of 64,218,770 million visitors, a world's fair record. Since it was estimated that the fair needed to draw at least 50 million visitors to break even, it may well have been the first world's fair to actually make a profit.

The Tower of the Sun was the official symbol of EXPO 70. It soared 65 meters over the central monument section of the fair.

The site of EXPO 70 is now a cultural park combining cultural, sporting, and leisure facilities, all surrounded by greenery. The fair's profits have since been used to foster Japanese cultural projects overseas, including dramatic performances, construction of Japanese gardens, purchase of Japanese language study materials and equipment or books on Japan, etc.. They have also been used domestically for cultural, science, and educational projects dedicated to teaching and perpetuating traditional Japanese culture.

SOURCE
ExpoMuseum www.expomuseum.com

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This page was last updated on 06/25/2017.