Nihongo-a-Go-Go :: Mandy's Journal

Expo...a lil bit lame

Well...the World Expo in Aichi, Japan, was as everyone described it; a little bit...disappointing, but there's good food and the country pavilions are fun.:)

We woke up early, though I must confess to having ignored the alarm for a good hour. We had no trouble getting there, but by the time we did, there were no available reservations for any of the corporate pavilions, such as Hitachi and Toyota. Which we expected, but had hoped for; there are dancing robots. *swoon* What we didn't expect is that everything else in the Japan section, such as the 64-foot kaleidoscope and the Mammoth, were also done by reservation and by 11 am, all the reservations for the DAY were given out. Pretty lame, eh? We were feeling pretty down after we'd wandered around and could get into nothing. And, all the nature was fenced off...then we saw the Seiko clock.

It was noon, and this clock plays awesome music and a panel opens in the side. Mechanical dolls move and dance and turn gears and pull chains. Absolutely lovely. We though, maybe, just maybe, the day could be improved. :)

So, we abandoned the corporate and Japanese areas (*sigh* No mammoth for me...) and headed to the Global Commons. Many countries from all over the world are represented. We didn't get to any of the Asian ones, but we did make it to North America, South America, the Middle East, Europe, Eastern Europe, and Africa. And the pavilions were interesting, though very few of them stayed really true to the theme of the Expo, which was Harmony with nature. Many of them seemed to be all about promoting tourism for their country. Ah well.

We went to *deep breath* Bulgaria, Turkey, Tunisia, Jordan, Morocco, Ireland, Egypt, Ukraine, UK, USA, Argentina, Cuba, Central America (Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica, etc), and Andean Amazon (I don't remember the exact countries). I can't post about all of them, but I will try to give a little bit about the really interesting ones.

Our first was Bulgaria, and now I know that Bulgaria is important in the rose, honey, and yogurt economies. See? I learned lots! Mostly we were in there because the line wasn't too bad, and it was air conditioned. :) But we ended up getting rose-flavored frozen yogurt, which was good and very fresh and yogurty. I wanted to try a meal called...kashikavalka? Something like that. Anyway, it looked good, but we wanted to get going. Next we went to Turkey, which was my very favorite pavilion. The theme was showing Nature's influence in the art, and it was lovely. The inside was set up like a dome, with little lights in the ceiling. There was a wooden structure, lotus-like, that went around a round area with a fountain in the middle. There were also examples of the beautiful painted tiles often found in mosques. I couldn't get any pictures that really did it justice. The music was also beautiful.

In the Tunisia pavilion, there were some guys making little clay pots who would write your name in Arabic on it. We got some for free, with little hearts on them, because we could speak a little French. Many people treated us wonderfully because we were non-Japanese and so they could speak English with us. Though there were some wonderfully sweet middle-aged Japanese women who waited in line with us for the Ireland pavilion (there was a band, Bru Boru, and dancers!) who held their parasols over us because we were in the sun.

Jordan had an interesting exhibit displaying the properties of the Dead Sea. As I'm sure you know, it's so salty nothing can live in it, and if you jump into it to commit suicide, you'll be sadly disappointed. Since you'll float. You can't tell from my pic very well (*shame*) but there was a big tank and these guys were just floating in it. Just laying there. Very very comfy, I think. The Morrocco pavilion was set up like a bazaar. You could even haggle, but only in Japanese. Aww...It was all very Kismet. :)

Next we headed over to the Egypt pavilion (actually, I'm doing this sort of out of order, but bear with me). It was set up all pharoah-style, probably because of all the renewed interest in King Tut. They had many replicas of famous artifacts, such as the famous golden burial mask and the bust of Nefertiti. Again, super cool music, and I bought a belly dancing hip scarf with all sorts of jingly coins. Because...how could I say no when the seller tied it on to me? Then we went to Ukraine, where I was sooooo embaressed. Heh, I didn't do anything stupid, but I felt so bad that I was one of these people, yet I could say anything to let them know that. I could say hello in Ukrainian, and that's it. Very very sad...I want to learn Ukrainian now, really badly! There was no dancing at the pavilion, but a cute band, with a bandura and a guy who could do that groovy Ukrainian bird call stuff. I also bought a ragdoll there. And something for Grandpa, shhhhh. :) There were also these statues, but I'm not sure what they are or what they represent. Ancient gods, perhaps? Must do more research.

By this time we were hungry, so we decided to try out some Romanian cuisine. We ate at a little restaurant that made me feel like I was in a Mel Brooks movie, but the food was good. I meant to write down the names, but I forgot. I had sole breaded in cornmeal, with some salad and mashed potatoes with veggies in them, and some creamy caviar on bread. Cornmeal and potatoes seemed very prominent, along with tomatoes. Pretty good though! I was hoping for someone dressed up as Vlad the Impaler, but instead there was this cute guy in traditional garb. Very bright, isn't it? Adorable boots...and you can't see it, but there's like a fan of peacock feathers on the side of the hat. Heh. After dinner we headed for the UK pavilion, which was one of the only ones that really stuck to the Expo's theme. They showed technological advances that were influenced by real things in nature. I really liked the gecko tape, which lets people climb walls, and this onscreen book that you could turn the pages of by waving your hand. The walkway into the pavilion was lovely as well, with actual green growing things and...modern art. :) I didn't get it, but it was a breath of fresh air.

Woo...my little fingers are getting as tired as my legs were yesterday. Lastly, we went to the North, South, and Central American pavilions. Cuba's was so open and airy, with a fancy bartender and was selling Cuban cigars. We got some delightful hibiscus juice from the Honduras pavilion. It was a beautiful pink sunset color and very sweet. Wish it was available elsewhere. And, of course, we had to check out the US pavilion. It was huuuuuge, of course. :) The main attraction was a ten minute 3-D projected move about Ben Franklin and his learning from nature. The show was sorta silly, but way fun; when there was lightning, the seats rumbled. When it rained, there was actually water sprinkling the audience. After that you walked through a hall about flight in America, from a perfect replica of the Wright brothers' plane to the a sorta shoddy replica of the Mars Rover (seriously, it was covered in copper gift wrap). It was nice to hear English again, and talk to someone with a Boston accent, though. :)

All in all, not a bad day, though there were some lingering disappointments. It's a huuuuuuuge area, and impossible to cover in one day. And not very friendly to tourists; without reservations, you can't see any of the big ticket items. Meaning, if you're a tourist who didn't know about it, you'd have no chance at all. However, seeing some trees in Japan is always nice, and I did learn stuff (Bulgaria is a big producer of honey, roses, and yogurt!). So...not a wasted day, though I wish it had cost a little bit less.

Stay tuned for next weekend's grand adventure...though we don't know what it is yet!

Posted by Mandy at July 15, 2005 11:00 PM