So you've stumbled across this web site, and clearly it seems at least somewhat interesting to you if you're here reading this right now. But perhaps, like most Americans, you don't really know much about the Expo. In that case, here's some background information.
What is this Expo thing, anyway?
Expo is another name for the World's Fair. That's right: the same sort of World's Fair for which they built the Eiffel Tower in Paris in 1889, the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, and the Space Needle in Seattle in 1962, among many other such things. Expos are very much like the Olympic Games, except instead of sports, they focus on science and technology as well as global culture.
The World's Fair? I didn't know they still had those.
Yep, they still do! Sadly, American interest has waned in recent years. The most recent American fairs (held in Knoxville in 1982 and New Orleans in 1984) were not as successful as their organizers had hoped, but interest in World's Fairs remain strong in Europe and Asia. The Fairs are regulated by the Bureau International des Exhibitions (BIE). Large fairs are now held every five years, with smaller ones every two or three in between.
The most recent Expo was in Hannover, Germany in 2000, but unfortunately, the United States did not participate. We did, however, make an appearance at Expo '92 in Seville, Spain, which was the first time the Bill of Rights was displayed outside of the United States. As a US Pavilion Guide here at Expo 2005, I'm thrilled that the US is back at the Expo and I hope that a World's Fair will return to the United States in the near future. Expo 2008 is planned for Zaragoza, Spain and Expo 2010 will be in Shanghai, China, but there is talk of a bid for the Fair in 2012 by Las Vegas, or in 2015 by San Francisco.
I'm hoping to encourage interest in the World's Fair through this web site, at least among the few people who will pass by here. It's truly an amazing event. More Americans should know about it!
What's the difference between a World's Fair and an Expo?
There is no difference. The first such event was the Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations, held in 1851 in London. A poet at the time described it as "the world's fair," and the name stuck to describe all such exhibitions and expositions that were held afterward. The term Expo was first used to describe the 1967 World's Fair in Montreal, "Expo '67," and ever since then, that has been the most common pattern used to name the events, but by all means Aichi Expo 2005 is a World's Fair just like the Crystal Palace (another name for the 1851 London fair), the World's Columbian Exposition (Chicago 1893), The New York 1939 World's Fair, and the rest of the great fairs of old.
What is the theme of this event?
What's this particular Expo being called?
All right, you probably weren't really wondering this, but I'm going to tell you anyway because I find it quite clever and cute in a way that is typical of our host country of Japan.
「愛・地球博」, read ai chi kyuu haku, is a play on words. The name of the host prefecture (the Japanese equivalent of a state) is Aichi, which is written in Japanese in with the characters "ai" meaning love and "chi" meaning knowledge. The word for Planet Earth in Japanese is chikyuu, though the "chi" is written with a different character than the one that means knowledge.
With me so far? Good. So the designers of this Expo decided that they'd make something of a pun out of it by naming it "Ai-Chikyuu Haku," which sounds at first just like the name of Aichi prefecture and contains the same first character, "love," but is written with a different second character: that is, the one meaning Earth. So it's the Aichi - Love the Earth Expo. (Haku means Expo.) So cute and typically Japanese!
The official logo that says this is the one at the head of this website, with the red and blue kanji. (Kanji are Chinese characters that are also used in Japanese).
What are those little green fuzzy creatures supposed to be?
But what are they actually? Well, Morizo, the larger one, is the wise "Forest Grandfather" who has lived in the forest for many years, while little Kiccoro is the "Forest Child" who has only just been born. They were featured in their own anime shown on NHK in the Chubu region of Japan as a promotion of the Expo.
How can I see the Japanese on your site?
Your browser should have an option, probably under "View" on the main menu, that says "Character Encoding." Find and select that, then "More," then "East Asian," then any of the Japanese options should work. (I usually go with Shift-JIS but others should also work.) You may also be able to select Unicode-UTF8. If you try to select these and you do not have the necessary fonts included, your browser should prompt you to download them. At least I know this should works with Netscape/Mozilla/Firefox.
When does the fair run?
Expo 2005 runs from March 25 until September 25, 2005.
What do you do on a regular basis?
As I'm writing this, I'm still in Hikone studying Japanese. Most of my time is currently devoted to studying vocabulary and sample dialogues to use in the US Pavilion. When we move to Nagoya and the Fair starts in March, I will update this with a little more about what our lives are like as Guides.
What can I see at the fair? What about the US Pavilion?
Again, as I'm not actually at the Expo yet as of this writing, I can't tell you much about the other pavilions as I haven't been able to see them myself yet. I can, however, tell you all about the US Pavilion. The theme is "the Franklin Spirit," as 2005 marks his 300th birthday, and as we practice saying in our conversation class here, 自然の力を借り て、私達の生活をもっといいもの にしようという気持ちは、フラン クリン精神と呼ばれています -- or in English, "The inclination to make our lives better by borrowing the power of Nature is called the Franklin Spirit." All the exhibits in the US Pavilion are supposed to tie into this theme. First there's a 10 minute show on Franklin (I haven't seen it yet, but it looks much cooler than it may sound), and then you can see an exact replica of the Wright Brothers' glider, a fuel cell, a GM concept car, and the Mars Rover! We'll even have images beamed back from the Rovers as well as the Cassini-Huygens probe on Saturn's moon Titan, and we'll receive them just as JPL and NASA receive them for the first time. It should be very, very cool.
I'll have more to tell you about this after the Expo actually starts.
Who are you, anyway?
I, the person behind the first-person pronouns on this web page, am one of the US Pavilion Guides. My name's Jessie Mannisto and I'm 22 years old, from Detroit, Michigan, and a recent graduate of Kalamazoo College. My major is English/Creative Writing, and I want to write fiction professionally someday, but for now I'm still in the process of collecting material. ;) I also have been studying Japanese since 1996. I hope to have more about my fellow Guides up here soon, too.
Where can I find out more?
I have collected some relevant links about the World's Fair, the US Pavilion, and our exhibits, so please have a look!