| 1970Osaka | |
|---|---|
 Logo designed byTakeshi Otaka [ja] | |
| Overview | |
| BIE-class | Universal exposition |
| Category | First category General Exposition |
| Name | Expo 70 |
| Motto | Progress and Harmony for Mankind |
| Building(s) | Symbol Zone'sspace frame |
| Area | 330 hectares (820 acres) |
| Visitors | 64,218,770 |
| Participant(s) | |
| Countries | 78 along with 4 international organizations |
| Location | |
| Country | Japan |
| City | Osaka |
| Venue | Suita |
| Coordinates | 34°48′31″N135°32′6.8″E / 34.80861°N 135.535222°E /34.80861; 135.535222 |
| Timeline | |
| Awarded | September 14, 1965 (1965-09-14) |
| Opening | March 15, 1970 (1970-03-15) |
| Closure | September 13, 1970 (1970-09-13) |
| Universal expositions | |
| Previous | Expo 67 inMontreal |
| Next | Seville Expo '92 inSeville |
| Specialized Expositions | |
| Previous | HemisFair '68 inSan Antonio |
| Next | Expo 71 inBudapest |
| Horticultural expositions | |
| Previous | Paris 1969 inParis |
| Next | Floriade (Netherlands) 1972 inAmsterdam |
TheJapan World Exposition, Osaka, 1970 (日本万国博覧会,Nihon Bankoku Hakuran-kai) orExpo '70 was aworld's fair held inSuita,[a] Osaka Prefecture, Japan, between 15 March and 13 September 1970. Its theme was "Progress and Harmony for Mankind."[1] In Japanese, Expo '70 is often referred to asŌsaka Banpaku (大阪万博). It was the first world's fair held in Japan as well as in Asia.
The Expo was designed by Japanese architectKenzō Tange, assisted by 12 other Japanese architects. Bridging the site along a north–south axis was the Symbol Zone.[2] Planned on three levels, it was primarily a social space with a unifyingspace frame roof.
The Expo attracted international attention for the extent to which unusual artworks and designs by Japanese avant-garde artists were incorporated into the overall plan and individual national and corporate pavilions.[3] The most famous of these artworks is artistTarō Okamoto's iconicTower of the Sun, which remains on the site.
Osaka was chosen as the site for the 1970 World Exposition by theBureau International des Expositions (BIE) in 1965. 330 hectares in the Senri Hills outside Osaka had been earmarked for the site and a Theme Committee under the chairmanship of Seiji Kaya was formed. Kenzo Tange andUzo Nishiyama were appointed to produce the master plan for the Expo. The main theme would beProgress and Harmony for Mankind. Tange invited 12 other architects to elucidate designs for elements within the master plan. These architects included:Arata Isozaki for theFestival Plaza mechanical, electrical and electronic installations; andKiyonori Kikutake for the Landmark Tower.[4]
Two main principles guided the master plan. The first was the idea that the wisdom of all the world's peoples would converge here to inspire new ideas; the second was that it should be less an exposition and more a festival. Unlike earlier expositions, the designers aimed to create a central, unifying Festival Plaza where people could gather and socialise. They called this theSymbol Zone and covered it and the themed pavilions with a giant space frame roof.[5]
The designers liked the idea that, like the1851 Great Exhibition in London, the roof of the Symbol Zone could be a unifying entity for the expo. They did not want the constraint imposed by the London Exhibition of having everything contained under one roof, so the space frame contained only the Festival Plaza and themed pavilions. Tange compared the concept to a tree. The idea was that although the national pavilions were like individual flowers they needed to be connected to the whole via branches and a trunk. Thus the Symbol Zone became the trunk and the moving pedestrian walkways and sub-plazas became the branches. These elements were reinforced with colour, with the trunk and branches in plain white and the pavilions in their own colours that were determined by the national architects.[6]
The Symbol Zone ran north–south across the site, spanning an arterial road running east–west. The Festival Plaza was to the north of road and had the main gate on its southern end. To the north of the main gate and central to the Festival Plaza was theTower of the Sun from which visitors could join pedestrian walkways that travelled out towards the north, south, east and west gates.[7]
The Theme Space under the space frame was divided into three levels, each designed by the artistTarō Okamoto, The underground level represented the past and was a symbol of the source of humanity. The surface level represented the present, symbolising the dynamism of human interaction. The space frame represented the future and a world where humanity and technology would be joined. Tange envisioned that the exhibition for the future would be like an aerial city and he askedFumihiko Maki, Noboru Kawazoe, Koji Kamiya and Noriaki Kurokawa to design it. The Theme Space was also punctuated by three towers: the Tower of the Sun, the Tower of Maternity and the Tower of Youth.[8]
To the north of the Theme Space was the Festival Plaza. This was a flexible space that contained a flat area and stepped terrace. The plaza could be rearranged to provide for different requirements for seating capacity, from 1500 to 10000. The flexibility extended to the lighting and audio visual equipment allowing for a range of musical performances and electronic presentations.[9] Festival Plaza was covered by the world's first large-scale, transparent membrane roof. It was designed by Tange and structural engineer Yoshikatsu Tsuboi + Kawaguchi & Engineers. Measuring 75.6 m in width and 108 m in length, it was 30 m high and supported by only six lattice columns.[10]
Seventy-seven countries participated in the event, and within six months the number of visitors reached 64,218,770, making Expo '70 one of the largest and best attended expositions in history.[11] It held the record for most visitors at an Expo until it was surpassed by theShanghai World Expo in 2010.[12] It generated a profit of 19 billion Yen.[11]
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A popular highlight of the fair was a largeMoon rock on display in the United States' pavilion. It had been brought back from the Moon byApollo 12 astronauts in 1969.[28]
Expo '70 also saw the premiere of the first-everIMAX film: theCanadian-producedTiger Child for theFuji Group pavilion.[29]
The Expo also featured demonstrations ofconveyor belt sushi,[30] earlymobile phones,local area networking andmaglev train technology.
The site of Expo '70 is nowExpo Commemoration Park. Almost all pavilions have been demolished, but a few memorials remain, including part of the roof for Festival Plaza designed by Tange. The most famous of the still-intact pieces is the Tower of the Sun. The former international art museum pavilion designed by Kiyoshi Kawasaki was used as the building for theNational Museum of Art, Osaka until March 2004 (the museum moved to downtown Osaka in November 2004).[citation needed]
Additionally, there is atime capsule that is to be left for 5,000 years and opened in the year 6970.[31] The capsule was donated byThe Mainichi Newspapers Co. and theMatsushita Electric Industrial Co. The concept creating time capsules at world's fairs started with the twoWestinghouse Time Capsules, which are to be opened in 6939.[citation needed]
Part of the Expo Commemoration Park is now ExpoCity, a shopping mall that features theRedhorse Osaka Wheel.[32]
Osaka successfully bid forExpo 2025 alongsideYekaterinburg,Russia, andBaku,Azerbaijan. However, the world's fair will not reuse the park space, and will instead be hosted on Yumeshima island inKonohana, on the waterfront of Osaka Bay.[33]
To celebrate the 50th anniversary, "Expo '70 50th Anniversary Special Exhibition" was held in Tennozu area of Tokyo from February 15 to 24, 2020.[34]
Osaka Monorail operated a wrapping train that reproduced the monorail design that operated at the Expo to commemorate the anniversary.[35]
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Expo '70 appears inShōwa nostalgia fiction, where it is used as a symbol of the financial prosperity of Shōwa era Japan.[36] For example, Expo '70 plays a central role in the plot of theNaoki Urasawa's manga20th Century Boys; and various Expo '70 pastiches are featured inCrayon Shin-chan: The Storm Called: The Adult Empire Strikes Back.
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