World Expo 2005

My memories of attending the 1964 World's Fair in New York and the World Expo 1970 in Osaka, Japan were very dim so I looked forward to attending the 2005 Expo in Nagoya, Japan.

My wife and I started our trip to the expo early as we were staying at a hotel in Gamagori. The train ride took a little over an hour and when we arrived at the station we faced hordes of people also going to the expo. The cost of the ride was about $15 per person. Then we had to buy a ticket for the maglev train that would take us to the expo site. That was another $1.50 but it was worth it. It is the smoothest train ride on earth. Next it was buying tickets to the expo, another $42 each. The line to get in was long and thanks to security it took what seemed an eternity to get in.

We went to the corporate pavilion area and the lines were already long, averaging 2 hours or more and that was before a half hour had elapsed from the parks opening.

After touring the Mitsui-Toshiba pavilion we moved on to the global village and the country pavilions. Most were fine, but many were just not that interesting. Beside the waiting, the worst part was all the walking that was required to get around. We didn't try to make it through the entire expo as we tired fast in the heat and found the whole experience a little dull.

If you haven't been to an expo before, consider going as long as you understand that it is a lot like Epcot Center, but larger. If you are looking for excitement go elsewhere. This is more of a cultural event and in this case the Japanese themed the expo to make a point of how ecologically sensitive they are and what they perceive to be the real threat to the earth which is global warming.