![Osaka Expo'70 Festival Plaza](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2e/Osaka_Expo%2770_Festival_Plaza.jpg)
The or Expo 70 was a
world's fair
A world's fair, also known as a universal exhibition or an expo, is a large international exhibition designed to showcase the achievements of nations. These exhibitions vary in character and are held in different parts of the world at a specif ...
held in
Suita
is a city located in northern Osaka Prefecture, Japan. As of October 1, 2016, the city has an estimated population of 378,322 and a population density of 9,880 persons per km². The total area is 36.11 km².
The city was founded on April 1, ...
,
Osaka Prefecture
is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Osaka Prefecture has a population of 8,778,035 () and has a geographic area of . Osaka Prefecture borders Hyōgo Prefecture to the northwest, Kyoto Prefecture ...
, Japan between March 15 and September 13, 1970. Its theme was "Progress and Harmony for Mankind." In Japanese, Expo '70 is often referred to as . It was the first world's fair held in Japan.
The Expo was designed by Japanese architect
Kenzō Tange
was a Japanese architect, and winner of the 1987 Pritzker Prize for architecture. He was one of the most significant architects of the 20th century, combining traditional Japanese styles with modernism, and designed major buildings on five con ...
, assisted by 12 other Japanese architects. Bridging the site along a north–south axis was the Symbol Zone. Planned on three levels, it was primarily a social space with a unifying
space frame
In architecture and structural engineering, a space frame or space structure ( 3D truss) is a rigid, lightweight, truss-like structure constructed from interlocking struts in a geometric pattern. Space frames can be used to span large areas with ...
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. The most famous of these artworks is artist
Tarō Okamoto
was a Japanese artist, art theorist, and writer. He is particularly well known for his avant-garde paintings and public sculptures and murals, and for his theorization of traditional Japanese culture and avant-garde artistic practices.
Biograph ...
's iconic
Tower of the Sun
The is a building created by Japanese artist Tarō Okamoto. It was known as the symbol of Expo '70 and currently is preserved and located in the Expo Commemoration Park in Suita, Osaka Prefecture, Japan. The tower has three faces on its front ...
, which still remains on the site today.
Background
![Osaka Expo'70 Kodak+Ricoh Pavilion](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2e/Osaka_Expo%2770_Kodak%2BRicoh_Pavilion.jpg)
Osaka was chosen as the site for the 1970 World Exposition by the
Bureau International des Expositions
The Bureau international des expositions (BIE; English: International Bureau of Expositions) is an intergovernmental organization created to supervise international exhibitions (also known as expos or world expos) falling under the jurisdiction o ...
(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 and
Uzo Nishiyama were appointed to produce the master plan for the Expo. The main theme would be ''Progress and Harmony for Mankind''. Tange invited 12 other architects to elucidate designs for elements within the master plan. These architects included:
Arata Isozaki
Arata Isozaki (磯崎 新, ''Isozaki Arata''; born 23 July 1931) is a Japanese architect, urban designer, and theorist from Ōita. He was awarded the RIBA Gold Medal in 1986 and the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2019.
Biography
Isozaki was ...
for the ''Festival Plaza'' mechanical, electrical and electronic installations; and
Kiyonori Kikutake
(April 1, 1928 – December 26, 2011) was a prominent Japanese architect known as one of the founders of the Japanese Metabolist group. He was also the tutor and employer of several important Japanese architects, such as Toyo Ito, Shōzō Uc ...
for the Landmark Tower.
Master plan
Two main principles informed the master plan. The first was the idea that the wisdom of all the peoples of the world would come together in this place and stimulate ideas; the second was that it would be less of an ''exposition'' and more of a ''festival''. The designers thought that unlike previous expositions they wished to produce a central, unifying, Festival Plaza where people could meet and socialise. They called this the ''Symbol Zone'' and covered it and the themed pavilions with a giant space frame roof.
The designers liked the idea that like the
1851 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.
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 the
Tower of the Sun
The is a building created by Japanese artist Tarō Okamoto. It was known as the symbol of Expo '70 and currently is preserved and located in the Expo Commemoration Park in Suita, Osaka Prefecture, Japan. The tower has three faces on its front ...
from which visitors could join pedestrian walkways that travelled out towards the north, south, east and west gates.
The Theme Space under the space frame was divided into three levels, each designed by the artist
Tarō Okamoto
was a Japanese artist, art theorist, and writer. He is particularly well known for his avant-garde paintings and public sculptures and murals, and for his theorization of traditional Japanese culture and avant-garde artistic practices.
Biograph ...
, 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 asked
Fumihiko Maki
is a Japanese architect who teaches at Keio University SFC. In 1993, he received the Pritzker Prize for his work, which often explores pioneering uses of new materials and fuses the cultures of east and west.
Early life
Maki was born in Tokyo. A ...
, 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.
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. 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.
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. It held the record for most visitors at an Expo until it was surpassed by the
Shanghai World Expo
Expo 2010, officially the Expo 2010 Shanghai China, was held on both banks of the Huangpu River in Shanghai, China, from 1 May to 31 October 2010. It was a major World Expo registered by the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE), in the tr ...
in 2010.
Major pavilions
![Canada Pavilion Expo 70](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d2/Canada_Pavilion_Expo_70.jpg)
* The Canadian pavilion, designed by architect
Arthur Erickson
Arthur Charles Erickson (June 14, 1924 – May 20, 2009) was a Canadian architect and urban planner. He studied Engineering at the University of British Columbia and, in 1950, received his B.Arch. (Honours) from McGill University. He is known ...
, featured two
National Film Board of Canada
The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; french: Office national du film du Canada (ONF)) is Canada's public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary f ...
productions: ''The Land'', a look at Canada from coast to coast, filmed for the most part from a low-flying aircraft,
as well as the
animated short
Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most anima ...
''The City'', directed by
Kaj Pindal.
Montreal artist and architect
Melvin Charney had submitted a radically different design for the Canadian pavilion, fashioned from construction cranes and scaffolding, which was rejected.
![Osaka Expo'70 Korean Pavilion](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/71/Osaka_Expo%2770_Korean_Pavilion.jpg)
* The West German pavilion, designed by
Fritz Bornemann
Fritz Bornemann (12 February 1912 in Berlin – 28 May 2007 in Berlin) was a German architect.
Life and works
Bornemann studied architecture at the Technical University of Berlin. After graduating in 1936, he was Assistant Scenic Designer ...
, featured the world's first spherical concert hall, based on artistic concepts by
Karlheinz Stockhausen
Karlheinz Stockhausen (; 22 August 1928 – 5 December 2007) was a German composer, widely acknowledged by critics as one of the most important but also controversial composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries. He is known for his groun ...
. The pavilion theme was "gardens of music", in keeping with which Bornemann "planted" the exhibition halls beneath a broad lawn, with the connected auditorium "sprouting" above ground. Inside, the audience was surrounded by 50 loudspeaker groups in seven rings at different "latitudes" around the interior walls of the sphere. Sound was sent around the space in three dimensions using either a spherical controller designed by Fritz Winckel of the Electronic Music Studio at the
Technical University of Berlin
The Technical University of Berlin (official name both in English and german: link=no, Technische Universität Berlin, also known as TU Berlin and Berlin Institute of Technology) is a public research university located in Berlin, Germany. It was ...
, or a ten-channel "rotation mill" constructed to Stockhausen's design. Works by
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard w ...
,
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical ...
,
Bernd Alois Zimmermann
Bernd Alois Zimmermann (20 March 1918 – 10 August 1970) was a German composer. He is perhaps best known for his opera ''Die Soldaten'', which is regarded as one of the most important German operas of the 20th century, after those of Berg. As a ...
, and
Boris Blacher
Boris Blacher (30 January 1975) was a German composer and librettist.
Life
Blacher was born when his parents (of German-Estonian and Russian backgrounds) were living within a Russian-speaking community in the Manchurian town of Niuzhuang () (he ...
were played from multi-track tape. As the main feature, however, Stockhausen was invited to present five-and-a-half-hour live programs of his music every day over a period of 183 days to a total audience of about a million listeners. In the course of the exhibition, 19 performers in Stockhausen's ensemble gave concerts for over a million visitors. "Many visitors felt the spherical auditorium to be an oasis of calm amidst the general hubbub, and after a while it became one of the main attractions of Expo 1970".
* The USSR pavilion was the tallest in the fairgrounds, a sweeping red and white design by Soviet architect Mikhail V. Posokhin.
* The U.S. pavilion was an air-supported dome, a joint design by architects
Davis Brody and structural engineer
David H. Geiger
David H. Geiger (1935 – October 3, 1989) was an American engineer who invented the Air-supported structure, air-supported fabric roof system that at the time of his death was in use at almost half the domed stadiums in the world.
Geiger was born ...
* The Netherlands pavilion was the work of Carel Weeber and
Jaap Bakema
Jacob Berend "Jaap" Bakema (8 March 1914 – 20 February 1981) was a Dutch modernist architect, notable for design of public housing and involvement in the reconstruction of Rotterdam after the Second World War.
Born in Groningen (city), Gronin ...
.
* The Hong Kong pavilion, topped by sails that were raised and lowered twice daily, was designed by Alan Fitch, W. Szebo & Partners.
* The Philippine Pavilion was designed by renowned Filipino Architect
Leandro Locsin
Leandro V. Locsin (August 15, 1928 – November 15, 1994) was a Filipino architect, artist, and interior designer known for his use of concrete, floating volume and simplistic design in his various projects. An avid collector, he was fond of m ...
and was very well received and was judged as one of the ten most popular pavilions at the exhibition with its dramatic roof sweeping up from the ground using fine Philippine hardwoods and other native materials.
Other attractions
A popular highlight of the fair was a large
moon rock
Moon rock or lunar rock is rock originating from Earth's Moon. This includes lunar material collected during the course of human exploration of the Moon, and rock that has been ejected naturally from the Moon's surface and landed on Earth as ...
on display in the United States' pavilion. It had been brought back from the moon by
Apollo 12
Apollo 12 (November 14–24, 1969) was the sixth crewed flight in the United States Apollo program and the second to land on the Moon. It was launched on November 14, 1969, by NASA from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida. Commander Pete Conra ...
astronauts in 1969.
Expo '70 also saw the premiere of the first-ever
IMAX
IMAX is a proprietary system of high-resolution cameras, film formats, film projectors, and theaters known for having very large screens with a tall aspect ratio (approximately either 1.43:1 or 1.90:1) and steep stadium seating.
Graeme F ...
film: the
Canadian
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
-produced ''
Tiger Child
''Tiger Child'' ( ja, 虎の仔 ''Tora no ko'') was the first IMAX movie ever made. It was directed by Canadian filmmaker Donald Brittain and produced by Roman Kroitor and Kichi Ichikawa. It premiered at Expo '70 in Osaka, Japan
is a desig ...
'' for the
Fuji Group pavilion.
The Expo also featured demonstrations of
conveyor belt sushi
, also called rotation sushi, is a type of sushi restaurant common in Japan. In Australasia, it is also known as a sushi train.
Plates serving the sushi are placed on a rotating conveyor belt that winds through the restaurant and moves past eve ...
, early
mobile phone
A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone, handphone, hand phone or pocket phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell, or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link whil ...
s,
local area network
A local area network (LAN) is a computer network that interconnects computers within a limited area such as a residence, school, laboratory, university campus or office building. By contrast, a wide area network (WAN) not only covers a larger ...
ing and
maglev
Maglev (derived from '' magnetic levitation''), is a system of train transportation that uses two sets of electromagnets: one set to repel and push the train up off the track, and another set to move the elevated train ahead, taking advantage ...
train technology.
Today
The site of Expo '70 is now
Expo Commemoration Park
or Expo '70 Commemorative Park is a park in Suita, Japan. It is north of Osaka (about 15 km from Umeda). The park is the former site of Expo '70, a World's Fair held between March 15 and September 13, 1970. It is about 264 ha of lawn and ...
. 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 the
National Museum of Art, Osaka
is a subterranean Japanese art museum located on the island of Nakanoshima, located between the Dōjima River and the Tosabori River, about 10 minutes west of Higobashi Station in central Osaka.
The official Japanese title of the museum tran ...
until March 2004 (the museum moved to downtown Osaka in November 2004).
Additionally, there is a
time capsule
A time capsule is a historic cache of goods or information, usually intended as a deliberate method of communication with future people, and to help future archaeologists, anthropologists, or historians. The preservation of holy relics dates ba ...
that is to be left for 5,000 years and opened in the year 6970. The capsule was donated by
The Mainichi Newspapers Co. and the
Matsushita Electric Industrial Co.
formerly between 1935 and 2008 and the first incarnation of between 2008 and 2022, is a major Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation, headquartered in Kadoma, Osaka. It was founded by Kōnosuke Matsushita in 1918 as a lightbulb s ...
The concept creating time capsules at world's fairs started with the two
Westinghouse Time Capsules
The Westinghouse Time Capsules are two time capsules prepared by the Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company (later Westinghouse Electric Corporation). One was made in 1939 and the other in 1965. They are filled with contemporary articles ...
, which are to be opened in 6939.
Part of the Expo Commemoration Park is now ExpoCity, a shopping mall that features the
Redhorse Osaka Wheel.
Osaka successfully bid for
Expo 2025
is an upcoming World Expo organised and sanctioned by the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE), which will be held in Osaka, Japan. It will take place for six months during 2025, opening 13 April 2025 and closing 13 October 2025. This w ...
alongside
Yekaterinburg
Yekaterinburg ( ; rus, Екатеринбург, p=jɪkətʲɪrʲɪnˈburk), alternatively romanized as Ekaterinburg and formerly known as Sverdlovsk ( rus, Свердло́вск, , svʲɪrˈdlofsk, 1924–1991), is a city and the administra ...
,
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
and
Baku
Baku (, ; az, Bakı ) is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. Baku is located below sea level, which makes it the lowest lying national capital in the world a ...
,
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...
. However, the world's fair will not reuse the park space, and will instead be hosted on Yumeshima island in
Konohana, on the waterfront of Osaka Bay.
50th anniversary
Celebrating the 50th anniversary of Japan World Exposition began in Osaka in 1970, "Expo ’70 50th Anniversary Special Exhibition" was held in Tennozu area of Tokyo from February 15 to 24, 2020.
Osaka Monorail will operate a wrapping train that reprints the monorail design that operated at the Expo.
In popular culture
*Expo '70 is the setting for the
Daiei Motion Picture Company
Daiei Film Co. Ltd. (Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ''Daiei Eiga Kabushiki Kaisha'') was a Japanese film studio. Founded in 1942 as Dai Nippon Film Co., Ltd., it was one of the major studios during the postwar Golden Age of Japanese cinema, producing n ...
production of
Noriaki Yuasa
(28 September 1933 – 14 June 2004) was a Japanese director. Yuasa is the main director of the Japanese film series ''Gamera'', about a giant flying turtle that befriends small boys and battles giant monsters. The series was created by Daiei Fi ...
's ''
Gamera vs. Jiger'' (1970), which was extensively filmed on location at the Expo grounds. The final battle between the monsters takes place at the Expo site. The film was marketed overseas as ''Monsters Invade Expo '70''.
*''
Kamen Rider
The , also known as ''Masked Rider Series'' (until Decade), is a Japanese superhero media franchise consisting of tokusatsu television programs, films, manga, and anime, created by manga artist Shotaro Ishinomori. ''Kamen Rider'' media generall ...
'' episode 7 was filmed on the fairgrounds of Expo '70.
*Director
Douglas Trumbull
Douglas Hunt Trumbull (; April 8, 1942 – February 7, 2022) was an American film director and innovative visual effects supervisor. He pioneered methods in special effects and created scenes for '' 2001: A Space Odyssey'', ''Close Encounters o ...
said that the design of the space freighter ''Valley Forge'' in the 1971 science fiction drama ''
Silent Running
''Silent Running'' is a 1972 American environmental-themed apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction, post-apocalyptic science fiction film. It is the directorial debut of Douglas Trumbull, and stars Bruce Dern, Cliff Potts, Ron Rifkin, and Jesse ...
'' was inspired by the Landmark Tower.
*Expo '70 is the main setting for the Canadian director
Robert Lepage
Robert Lepage (born December 12, 1957) is a Canadian playwright, actor, film director, and stage director.
Early life
Lepage was raised in Quebec City. At age five, he was diagnosed with a rare form of alopecia, which caused complete hair lo ...
's 1998 film entitled ''
Nô'', based on his play ''The Seven Branches of the River Ota''.
*Expo '70 plays a central role in the plot of the
Naoki Urasawa
is a Japanese manga artist and musician. He has been drawing manga since he was four years old, and for most of his professional career has created two series simultaneously. The stories to many of these were co-written in collaboration with his ...
's manga ''
20th Century Boys
is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Naoki Urasawa. It was originally serialized in Shogakukan's ''seinen'' manga magazine ''Big Comic Spirits'' from 1999 to 2006, with the 249 chapters published into 22 ''tankōbon'' ...
''
*Expo '70 is the climax setting for the Tamil film ''
Ulagam Sutrum Valiban
''Ulagam Sutrum Valiban'' () is a 1973 Indian Tamil-language science fiction film directed and co-produced by M. G. Ramachandran. The film stars Ramachandran, Chandrakala, Manjula and Latha. It revolves around a scientist who discovers an ene ...
'' directed by
M. G. Ramachandran
Maruthur Gopalan Ramachandran (17 January 1917 24 December 1987), also popularly known as M.G.R., was an Indian politician, actor, philanthropist, and filmmaker who served as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu from 1977 until his death in 1987 ...
.
*
Expo '70
The or Expo 70 was a world's fair held in Suita, Osaka Prefecture, Japan between March 15 and September 13, 1970. Its theme was "Progress and Harmony for Mankind." In Japanese, Expo '70 is often referred to as . It was the first world's fair ...
is an experimental psychedelic drone musical act from Kansas City, Missouri led by Justin Wright (2003–present)
* Various Expo '70 pastiches are featured in
Crayon Shin-chan: Fierceness That Invites Storm! The Adult Empire Strikes Back
*Expo '70 is referenced in
Moonlight Mile (manga)
''Moonlight Mile'' (stylized in all caps) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yasuo Ohtagaki. It was serialized in Shogakukan's ''seinen'' manga magazine ''Big Comic Superior'' from 2000 to 2011, when the manga entered a ten ...
, as the protagonist Gorou comes from Suita.
See also
*
List of world's fairs
This is a list of international and colonial world's fairs, as well as a list of national exhibitions, a comprehensive chronological list of world's fairs (with notable permanent buildings built).
1790s
* 1791 – Prague, Bohemia, Habsburg m ...
*
Osaka Expo '70 Stadium
, also called Osaka Expo '70 Stadium, is an athletics stadium located in the Expo Commemoration Park, the site of Expo '70, in the city of Suita, Osaka Prefecture, Japan. It has a capacity of around about 21,000.
The stadium was the home ground ...
*
Expo Commemoration Park
or Expo '70 Commemorative Park is a park in Suita, Japan. It is north of Osaka (about 15 km from Umeda). The park is the former site of Expo '70, a World's Fair held between March 15 and September 13, 1970. It is about 264 ha of lawn and ...
*
Expoland
Expoland, located in Suita, Japan was opened as the amusement zone at the International Exposition in 1970 (Expo '70) in Osaka and thrived for over 30 years as an amusement park. There were more than 40 rides and attractions (including 8 roller ...
*
Expo 2025
is an upcoming World Expo organised and sanctioned by the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE), which will be held in Osaka, Japan. It will take place for six months during 2025, opening 13 April 2025 and closing 13 October 2025. This w ...
Footnotes
Sources
*
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External links
Expo'70Official website of the BIETime Capsule Expo '70"Spherical Concert Hall" photos and architectural plans of the auditorium of the West German pavilion and its sound system
{{Authority control
1970 in Japan
Tourist attractions in Osaka Prefecture
Culture in Osaka
Electronic music festivals in Japan
Electroacoustic music festivals
1970 festivals
1970 music festivals