Expo links for the (last) week of 24 September

One day before this world exposition comes to an end, here are some last good links about the expo in Aichi.

- Japan Today - Expo crowded with one day to go

About 34,500 people were lined up at the gates of the 2005 World Exposition in Aichi Prefecture on Saturday when it opened in the morning, one day before it ends.

Lately, some people stayed over the whole night, to be sure to be first to enter the expo in the morning...

- Kyodo News - Aichi Expo deserves 'passing grade' despite long waits: expo chief

The World Exposition in Aichi Prefecture, set to end Sunday after a 185-day run, has been successful without any major incidents and deserves "a passing grade of at least 60 points out of 100," the chief of the Japan Association for the 2005 World Exposition said Saturday.

But Nakamura also admits some mistakes.

"We were inexperienced and lacked the know-how on how to handle the crowds swiftly and this is an area for improvement," Nakamura said. "We hope to be able to pass on our experience to the next expo to be held in Shanghai five years later."

- People's Daily Online - Feature: Countries serve up scrumptious world feast at Aichi Expo

From Azerbaijani kebabs to Nepalese dumplings, from Belgian beer to Costa Rican coffee, the Aichi Expo is proving to be not only an exhibition of robots and advanced technology but also a tempting world food fair.

-Daily Yomiuri Online - French expo expert gives Aichi 10 out of 10 points

French Pavilion General Commissioner Bernard Testu, who has experienced two previous expositions in Europe, said looking back at the six-month-long international event, he would definitely give 10 points out of 10 to 2005 World Exposition Aichi.

To me it sounds strange to read in the article that one would give it a 10 out of 10, but also call it "not an unqualified success".

"Transportation [to the exposition sites] is not as efficient as it should be. It could have been better, particularly in a country like this, which is so well organized," he said. Testu also said the capacity of the mag-lev Linimo line, the main transportation system to the sites, was too small. In this closing month, it is not unusual for visitors to wait for an hour to get onto Linimo trains.

Maybe then better give it a 7 out of 10, no?

-Kyodo News - Aichi Expo to end with 10 billion yen profit and lessons for future

With the visitor count topping 21 million, ticket sales have surpassed initial expectations of 15 billion yen, and the Japan Association for the 2005 World Exposition is expected to register almost 10 billion yen in profit.

Not bad at all!

While some critics remain skeptical of how successful the Aichi Expo was in raising visitors' awareness of ecology, expo officials claim the world fair has fulfilled its role in environmental education. Citing an Internet survey the association conducted, the officials said 70 percent of the people polled after going to the expo said that they would actively take part in reducing and recycling garbage, more than double that of the 32 percent who said so before visiting.

Also interesting:

Poor access to the expo sites, located some 20 kilometers east of Nagoya, and the high prices of goods sold at the world fair were also problems cited by 31 percent, respectively, of the respondents. Almost half of the surveyed companies and groups said they plan to relocate the pavilions or part of their exhibits to other places so that the expo will not end as just a short-lived event.

The next expo will be held in Shanghai in 2010. I'm sure it will be bigger...and hope the organisers will more focus on promoting it to an international/global audience. And from a communication perspective I would clearly advise to also invest big time in "citizen journalism". In 2010, our society will be totally different, and mainstream media will not exist in its actual form anymore...