Japan’s Expo ’70—Some Impressions
By “Awake!” correspondent in Japan
“PROGRESS AND HARMONY FOR MANKIND”—these words express the theme of Expo ’70. It sets out to show that Occidental progress plus Oriental harmony provide the key to a brighter world for mankind. Does Expo ’70 succeed in this? Let’s go and see.
On this clear spring morning we drive right around Expo ’70’s 815 acres at top speed, and then join hundreds of other cars in a spacious parking lot. It is an hour before opening time, but the line of people is already long. At the main entrance there is a futuristic “Tower of the Sun” rising 198 feet into the sky.
By the time we reach the Soviet pavilion, the line is an estimated three hours long, so we bypass it and enter the United Kingdom pavilion after a five-minute wait. This we find really interesting. A fast-moving variety of movies and still pictures depict vividly the life and industry, the art and history of Britain. And we are brought up-to-date on scientific progress, the latest in jet engines, hovercraft, discoveries in the realm of medicine, and the like.
It is said that some 300,000 people are now on the grounds. Energetic tour groups wearing colorful sashes and “Expo caps” surge here and there. However, there is no waiting as we pass through a unique open-air Brazilian hall and enjoy a complimentary cup of coffee. Next, the Hawaiian pavilion, with its songs and hula dances. There is no waiting, either, at the rest rooms, where we are surprised to find soft music.
Lively Latin music and song, presented by a vigorous group of troubadours, attract us to the Mexican pavilion. A large Aztec sun calendar opens the way to a vivid portrayal of Mexican history through Aztec and Catholic ages into modern times. Close by is the Grecian pavilion, which again takes us far back into pre-Christian times. Outstanding is a large mosaic, excavated from the ruins of Pompeii, which shows Alexander the Great as he comes to grips with Darius III of Persia at Issus, in 333 B.C.E.
The Indian pavilion is splendid in its endeavor to describe the origins and history of India, and the struggle to build a modern nation. The history of Buddhism is very clearly depicted, and we are told that Buddha himself was born as recently as 544 B.C.E. By then the writing of the Hebrew Scriptures was nearing completion. Main tenets of Buddhism are set out on a plaque reading: “Then Buddha spake: Right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right conduct, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration. All things are impermanent.” We reflect, of what use can “right” things be without permanence?
But it is time to rest weary feet.
The Japanese Garden and Japan
We walk a short distance to the 64-acre Japanese garden. Here, amid lakes and ponds stocked with fish, iris and lotus flowers, among waterfalls and brooks, teahouses and dwarf-tree displays, and with songs of birds and koto (harp) music wafted from loudspeakers, we find a splendidly different feature of Expo ’70. Here we relax over box lunches, amid the harmony of God’s creation. It makes us reflect, too, that lasting progress for mankind is not to be found in steel-and-concrete cities with their air and water pollution, but it must wait until the time, now close at hand, when the all-wise Creator restores paradise to earth in his way.
Refreshed for more walking, we cross over to the Japan pavilion. As the line of people snakes its way toward the entrance, there is forty minutes to contemplate the outside of this $15 million structure, the most costly and controversial in all Expo ’70. Inside there is a vivid portrayal of Japanese mythology, blending into actual history. A fearsome print of the Buddhist “hell” with its victims squirming in excruciating agony reminds one of Dante’s “inferno”—truly, all false religion has common origins!
But soon we pass into modern Japan, and are overwhelmed by the rush of life and statistics. The hustle and bustle is true to reality, even to a forest of TV antennas—but is this progress? A circular theater brings some relief and harmony, as we watch “Our World” on eighteen movie screens, depicting simultaneously the life of Osaka and other great cities around the world. We see a tapestry entitled “The Tower of Joy,” depicting high hope for future uses of nuclear energy.
Next, as a climax, comes one of the finest things in Expo ’70—the Grand Theater, with its 157-foot (48 meter)-wide screen and the color film “Japan and the Japanese.” Superb photography shows Mount Fuji in its four seasons and the everyday life of the people that surround it. We see them, young and old, at school and at work, amid snowfall and typhoon, at blossom time and at Fuji-climbing time—when the mountain summit looks even more crowded than Expo ’70!
After seeing several nearby Japanese technological exhibits, we eat an early supper—at a price—and take the moving footway across the grounds.
Viewing the Contending Giants
Alighting at the American pavilion, we have to wait only thirty-five minutes in line. The evening crowd is smaller. The structure of the American pavilion itself is impressively attractive. A huge self-supporting oval roof, scarcely rising above ground level, shields the entire exhibit space underneath—no girders, no pillars.
The American display gets off to a splendid start, with large black-and-white photo prints by leading artists portraying life in the U.S.A. On we go into the whirl and action of the sports world, tailored to the interests of the sports-loving Japanese public. But the really big display starts with the scorched modules of small Gemini and ever-so-much-bigger Apollo spacecraft, and ends with an enshrined piece of moon rock. It looks no different from earth rock, and we wonder if this end product of space exploration really signifies billion-dollar progress.
If there is any reference to hope in God for progress, we missed it. Or has God been replaced by Babe Ruth’s uniform and the moon rock?
Shall we try the Soviet pavilion again? The monorail whisks us around to the other side of Expo, and soon we are standing under the towering red-and-white structure with its pinnacle of golden hammer and sickle raised to heaven. We are inside within an amazingly brief five minutes. From the outset, the show is very interesting, historically speaking. But soon we tire of seeing pictures of Lenin, Lenin, Lenin—so obviously supreme god of the Soviets.
We are taken to the Soviet’s great timber regions, and are reminded of the birth of many new cities and the spectacular growth of electric power and its use. As the Soviet’s climactic exhibit there come actual spacecraft, including the Soyuz, and we see how these are docked in space. But rather than dummies of astronauts, we would have preferred to have met in person some of the young people of the nation, as had been such a pleasant experience in many of the other pavilions.
Both the American and Soviet displays leave the impression that the hope for mankind’s future progress lies in outer space. But is this so?
Touring Many Nations
Another day dawns, and our first visit is to the Bulgarian hall. What a happy start to the day! We are greeted at the entrance by a wide-screen choir of girls in native costume, singing what seems to be a lively folk song. And though there are reminders that this is one of the socialist family of nations, the people and their lives, their countryside, their vineyards and their fields are portrayed in a way that captivates throughout.
On the other hand, the neighboring Czechoslovakian pavilion, though beautifully constructed with walls of glass, seems to place emphasis on a morbid fear of war. A visitor ahead of us has written in the book at the exit: “This is a very poor show.” However, for our own part, we find much that is interesting and instructive in the Czech finale, a movie depicting the making and uses of Czech glass and crystal.
After another lunch in the delightful surroundings of the Japanese garden, we go on to view the African halls. Some of these present beautiful color “stills” of wildlife and of great forests, mountains, rivers and waterfalls. How attractive is this earth in all its variety when freed from selfish ideologies and greedy exploitation! But we cannot go along with the claim that it was in Tanzania “where man first breathed the spirit of life, 1,750,000 years ago.”
Germany, France, Italy, Switzerland and others have outstanding pavilions covering the European scene, its music, its entertainment, its history and its natural beauty. A walk through a New Zealand rain forest, complete with the cry of tuis and bellbirds, and a series of four theaters depicting “Discovery” in Canada, take us to other parts of the earth. The Canadian pavilion kindly provides benches to sit on as our waiting line proceeds group by group into the pyramid-shaped Palace of Mirrors. Happily, there are seats in each of its theaters, too, and a breathtaking informative show . . . until it launches into ten nerve-racking minutes of raucous, psychedelic rock ‘n’ roll, apparently Canada’s “discovery” for the future. Can this be harmony? Is it progress?
Looking to the Future
We want to see more of the Japanese exhibits, but long waiting lines discourage us. However, we make it past bamboo groves into Matsushita Electric, which sold 1,300,000 color television sets last year. This display features a metal Time Capsule, containing a complete record of our times, which is to be buried fifty feet (15 meters) deep at Osaka Castle, after the close of Expo ’70. The capsule is to contain items of clothing, household utensils, a scroll of history and tapes of noises—even to the neigh of a horse and the grunt of a pig. It is not to be opened for 5,000 years. It is a novel idea, but will the Time Capsule be of interest 5,000 years from now?
The hall of the Fuji Group enterprises looks like a huge orange-covered wagon. Its large-screen movie seems to feature the disharmonies of human life from conception to the grave—its contradictions, its racial and national divisions, its cruelties and frustrations. It makes us ask, Where on earth among mankind is there hope for progress and harmony? Others have strong impressions, too, for we hear a passing Japanese student remark, “Progress and harmony—the exact opposite!”
In two days we see only an interesting, thought-provoking segment of the main Exhibition Area, but we find our delight in the restful surroundings of the Japanese garden.
Expo ’70 is a tremendous spectacle. It is huge. It is informative and educational in showing the peoples of mankind and their environments and activities. It underlines the crying need for progress and harmony. But can it map the road to reach them? This is too colossal a task, even for the colossus of Japan’s Expo ’70.
[Picture on page 9]
Tower of the Sun, Symbol of Expo ’70