 2005 Aichi Expo: lights and shadows Japan will host the 2005 World Exposition in the central Japanese prefecture of Aichi for six months from March 25 under the main theme "Nature's Wisdom" dedicated to the preservation of the global environment using state-of-the-art technologies. Since the plan to hold the 2005 Expo in Aichi was released, there has been growing concern about the environmental destruction the exposition may cause to the area chosen for the site. The March 22 issue of Akahata featured "lights and shadows" of the Aichi Expo: 'Technology' Vs wisdom The Aichi Expo site is about 20 kilometers east of Nagoya City. The area, which stretches to Nagakute Town (158 hectares) and Seto City (15 hectares) is 36 times the size of the Nagoya baseball dome even after the scaling down of the initial plan. More than 120 countries along with the Japanese government, Aichi Prefectural government, and private sector corporations will participate in the exposition, in which 21 pavilions will be set up. One of the Aichi Expo's sub-themes is "The Art of Life," including "presentations of regional arts and customs associated with nature and life, and the introduction of lifestyles harmonized with nature." Sixty-three prototype of robots with the most advanced technologies will be at the site, including robots for sanitation, playing music, and guiding visitors. With a human-like face and body, guide robots will answer questions, such as "How can I get to pavilion A?" in English, Chinese, and Korean. 'Eco-cycle Community' As part of the efforts to establish an "eco-cycle community," the expo site uses, environment-friendly vehicles for connecting pavilions. The Nagakute and Seto sections will be connected by hybrid buses using cell that emit no carbon dioxide or nitrogen dioxide. They will demonstrate energy efficiency and low noise. Another vehicle is the IMTS (Intelligent Multimode Transit System), unmanned, automatic operation of buses on designated roads, suitable for mass transit with low emissions. The world's first exhibit of an 18,000 year old frozen mammoth from Siberia will be one of Aichi Expo's attractions. Special events of "National days and special days" concerning participating countries will help deepen mutual understanding. The "days" are expected to increase international exchanges regarding the global environment. Japan hosts world Expo for the first time in 35 years The world exposition is being held in Japan for the first time in 35 years after the one held in Osaka. This showy event is expected to attract 15 million visitors. However, from the outset there has been a major concern about environmental destruction. Initially, Aichi Prefecture chose Kaisho Forest (540 hectares), a rich natural oasis in Seto City, as the main site. Modeled on Senri New Town for the Osaka World Expo., the site was to be used as residential areas after the event. Kaisho forest is a habitat of more than 2,000 species of insects, including an endangered species, the Gifu butterfly. The existence of nesting goshawks, an endangered species, is confirmed in this forest. The Japanese Communist Party in cooperation with the "Association to Think about Environment in Seto" took action calling for the exhibition site to be reconsidered. The Bureau on International Exhibition (BIE) in 1999 also strongly criticized the choice of the site as a 20th century type of land development rationale. The site for the main event was changed to the youth park in Nagakute Town, and the housing plan was canceled. However, the new site is a habitat of the Gifu butterfly and other species. No formal environmental assessment has yet been carried out. Hatta Kokichi, secretary of the Citizens' Association for Environmental Assessment for Aichi World Expo. and professor at Nagoya Women's University, said, "It's okay for people to enjoy various events, but we want them to think of environmental destruction and restoration of the nature that will have to be dealt with in the future." After the festival It is feared that the World Exposition will leave related local governments with huge debts. Aichi prefecture has so far committed 354.4 billion yen to the construction of roads and railways related to the world exposition, including airport constriction. Constructing a linear motorcar line in the eastern hillside area as a major means of transport from Nagoya to the exposition site is one of the projects. Though it is said to be the first magnetic levitation system used in commercial transport, a Nagakute town official said that he is not sure if it's going to be profitable. If the operation suffers a loss, the prefecture and local governments will have to make up for the losses. The amount of prefectural bonds outstanding will be about 38 trillion yen in FY 2005. The prefecture's industry and labor department estimates that the World Exposition and the construction of Chubu (Central) Airport will have the ripple economic effect of generating 2.2 trillion yen in the period of FY 2005-2010. The local citizens' response is surprisingly cool. An owner of a cafe-bar for young people at a linear motor car station said, "The best I can expect is a little addition to my daily turnover. Only the large corporations will benefit from the ripple effect." A professor of regional economics at Meijo University said, "If local government administration is serious about making efforts to revitalize the local economy, all they needed to do was to help develop service industries to serve visitors from all over the world. Instead, administrators have built large buildings and roads. The estimate of a post-expo ripple economic effect is bleak. " (end) |