World Expo, Aichi Japan

Expo Plaza 


This year's World Expo is a lot of fun! I hope everyone in the world is given the chance to come here because it is really great. It seemed like the only foreigners at the expo were us (the group traveling from Yokosuka Navy Base) and the people running the expo themselves. Other than that, it was overrun by Japanese. Me and Soco had to get up at 3 in the morning to catch the shuttle bus, however we woke up 30 minutes before it took off, so we had very little time to prepare ourselves for the long 5/6 hour trip. It didn't help that it was a hot and humid day either. We brought umbrellas, not because of the rain, but because of the penetrating sun. With the humidity, you can feel yourself getting sunburnt and catching skin cancer. The only relief is standing in line to get into one of the exhibits. We didn't have enough time to browse the entire park, it is too huge. And I would've liked to see the Toyota exhibit, but it was too densely packed and we wanted to make the most of our day by visiting less popular attractions. The country exhibits didn't have many lines. Korea and the US did. Oh did I say Korea? South Korea had a really good small anime about robots taking over the planet and being crushed by an atomic bomb only to have trees and nature comeback and swollow up the whole planet again. Real good stuff.

USA Exhibit 


Another American Invention, the Hydrogen Fuel Cell Car 


I must say that the United States was the only exhibit that had metal detectors at the entrance. I looks like somebody is out to get the US. Anyways, it was about Benjamin Franklin and how he invented.... no, discovered electricity. Because of him, we have a modern world with computers and satellites. We were pretty much bragging about how smart we are with all of our high tech inventions, pictures of Mars, the Segway and displaying GM's hydrogen fuel cell car. It was cool.

Massive Walkways 


Vietnam Exhibit at the Expo 2005 in Aichi, Japan 


The Vietnamese Exhibit was very interesting. Inside was a shop filled with hand-made items and flowers. They had a show with musical instruments. Soco told me that Vietnamese music sounds like Disney in how it sounds like nature music. It was really great how the lady playing a stringed instrument made it sound like a sad crying voice. Just e-mail me if you want to see a video of it. I captured a 15 second movie. Real interesting. I also wanted to try out their food, but I didn't have enough time.



More pictures to follow...