Shanghai expects to draw 70m plus people

Johnson Honimae
The first World Exposition for the 21st century closed its gates on September 25 in Japan's southern prefecture of Aichi after bringing together 124 countries, international organisations and private corporations, and attracting about 22 million people.

Despite complaints about the long queues at pavilions, organisers of the World Expo 2005 defied skeptics to stage a popular and largely trouble-free expo with exhibits including humanoid robots and remnants of a frozen mammoth dug up in Siberia.

The six-month showcase drew a bigger-than-expected crowd of 22 million visitors and made a surplus of US$90 million.

It was untouched by major crime or terrorism acts and satisfied more than 70 percent of visitors, according to the organisers. For the record, only two pick-pocket cases were reported during the 185 days.

From the Pacific, 11 countries-Papua New Guinea, Kiribati, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Tonga, Vanuatu, Palau, Fiji, Marshall Islands and the Federated States of Micronesia-joined together under the Pacific Islands Pavilion to showcase the pristine environment, life and culture of our people with the theme “The Beautiful Pacific”.

A large Tongan voyaging canoe, the “Kalia” and a Samoan fale formed the centre pieces for the Pacific Pavilion.

The beautiful tropical forests and unpolluted seas as well as its unique cultures and traditions were also on show.

Traditional arts and crafts, stamps, music CDs, videotapes and the well-known green coconuts were on sale.

Selling at US$7 each, they were a hit among the Japanese visitors with its refreshing taste compared to the cold ice tea at the many drink machines dotted around the expo site.

So how did it go for the participating Pacific Islands?

“It was nothing but success starting from the opening ceremony to the closing,” said Alexander Merep, Palau's Minister of Community and Cultural Affairs, who visited the expo four times, including the closing ceremony.

“I must congratulate the organisers for choosing the theme of 'Nature's Wisdom' because we in the Pacific, the environment is an integral part of our daily lives. We must protect our environment because it's our livelihood.

“It is really encouraging for us in the Pacific to see countries which are so advanced technologically, like Japan, concerned about the protection of the environment,” Merep said.

Producer and Acting Director of the Pacific Islands Pavilion, Tenshin Yazawa expressed similar sentiments.

“The atmosphere here at the Pacific Pavilion was so friendly that Japanese visitors kept on coming back for more.

He said despite being part of the Pacific, Japanese people did not know much about the Pacific Islands.

“The World Expo, however, has enabled them (Japanese) to learn about the islands. But what interested them the most was the friendly atmosphere at the pavilion, the coconuts, the aquarium showing marine life and, of course, the island music and dancing by the islanders every afternoon.

“There is also the very high quality of artifacts,” Yazawa said.

He revealed that out of the total of 22 million people that visited the 2005 World Expo, 20 percent visited the Pacific Islands Pavilion.

He urged Pacific Islands countries to start preparing for the next World Expo to be held in the Chinese city of Shanghai in 2010.

“The 2010 Expo promises to be bigger and better with a total attendance expected to be more than 70 million people, so the Pacific Islands countries must now start preparing because five years is not a long time,” he said.