#World Expo

[postcard-from-the-past]

1970 World Expo in Osaka, Japan

Japanese vintage postcard

[justascribbla]

Alphonse Mucha poster for the 1904 World Exposition in St Louis. 19.7 million people attended. In 1904!

[kep1er-net]

xiaoting update ☆ bubble message: "sea, sky and ting ✨" (translation credits)

[nigelspeaksonexpo2025worldsfairs]

Modern World’s Fairs Aren’t Worth the Strain on Communities

As an intro, I want to liken modern World’s Fairs to the Olympics. It’s well known at this point that for practically every city that hosts the Olympics, the result is unhappy civilians, an environment ripe for corruption, stress on local workers, and miniscule (if not non-existent) return on investment. [Relevant article from the New York Times | Non Paywalled Mirror]

Now, incase you didn’t know, World’s Fairs (like the ones you remember from the 1800’s and 1900’s) are still happening, they are just called World Expos now. 

And you can assume that the type of events that brought you the Eiffel Tower and the Space Needle would also be just as taxing as the Olympics. For 2025, Osaka is planning a new World’s Expo, and a significant chunk of public sentiment is either skeptical or downright unsupportive of the project. Local business workers don’t predict a financial return, constituents forecast taxes going up to fund the growing money pit, and many people across the country find the idea of having an Expo at all as archaic. Japan is also going through a labor shortage right now, and even though labor and wage protections are in place, there are still very real concerns about overworking the already stretched construction industry.

So that leaves a simple question: are these problems simply endemic to World Expos? Can we realistically expect a world where future expos are unburdened by these ethical concerns?

In my opinion, as long as the primary motive of a World Expo is to introduce revenue to the region, then I believe not. As mentioned by a great article from the University of South Carolina, Diplomacy is often neglected when the topic of Modern Expos are mentioned. The strong diplomatic benefits of an Expo are completely at ends with the publicly espoused benefits of an Expo, which often highlight the monetary gains instead. The message that the Bureau International des Expositions (Expo organizing committee) showcases is not in line with what the general public cares about in an Expo. If the BIE wants it to be an economic event, then they should reduce the emphasis on flashy pavilions and instead pump up the emphasis on travel and trade. But of course, if the BIE didn’t focus on those pavilions, then there are plenty of other trade shows that fulfill the economic role much better. That’s the irony of it all. If you look at the innovative architecture and events that Expos are known for, you can instantly see that flashy, provocative buildings are not going to be the ideal place to promote business growth, but that they instead promote individual interest in global communities and art.

In short, either more changes need to occur to improve profitability, or the BIE needs to be honest with itself and recognize that an Expo does not need to be immensely profitable in its currently declining state. The Expo is on a downturn, and forcing it to try and be a money printer is making it crumble apart faster.

One big problem to tackle in this area is the fact that the Expo is a multi-billion dollar expenditure that is mostly frontloaded onto the host country. Additionally, another issue is that the Expo has the somewhat unique issue of being downgraded in prestige. The title of “Olympiad” still carries ~about~ as much weight as it did in the 70’s. But in the same vein, I can almost guarantee that the presenters of the Ford Mustang in the 1964 World’s Fair felt much more strongly about the event than the corporations that simply clock in to the event today. No auto maker sees the Expo as prestigious enough nowadays to unveil a car at. The World Expo has been watered down to a checkbox rather than a year making event, which is the natural result when the event is boiled down to a profiteering scheme rather than a cultural showcase. The new cycle cements this, with us getting round the clock coverage of the Olympics, and simply blurbs and minimal postings about the Expo. 

So if the Expo isn’t a money maker, isn’t a news maker, and isn’t a diplomacy juggernaut, then what is it? A shell of its former shell to most. And in all honesty, that is for good reason. The Expo of today most likely won’t capture the magic of the last time Osaka hosted the Expo in the 70s. The Expo of today most likely won’t bring much foreign investment. The Expo of today most likely won’t pull through as a saviour for labor. And the Expo of today most likely won’t recoup its local investments, causing tax money to be practically burned for what many see as a trinket.

I don’t deny these conclusions. But as an individual, and a person hoping for a more united global community, I still hold out hope for the general concept of an expo. Promoting togetherness and awareness of our global communities can never be a wrong step in my book, and seeing so many cultures showcase themselves with pride is important to promote a more diverse and accepting global populace. However, that doesn’t mean that the BIE cannot and could not do better, and it also doesn’t mean I intend to turn a blind eye on future posts. Many of my planned blogs are intended to be highly critical of the Expo’s, simply because critique is the primary way that institutions grow. I think the concept behind the Expo is extremely sound, and I’d hate to lose it. But it’s undeniable that far too little focus has been placed on sustainability and equitability for these Expos: both in the past and in the modern day. If the BIE continues to stagnate like it has, the Expo will simply become more contentious and more underwhelming, at which point it could die a deserving death if unrectified.

Thanks for reading this short type up. For now, goodbye.

[sheltiechicago]

Expo ’70, 1967, Yūsaku Kamekura

In 1970, after the positive international response to the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, Japan hosted its first World Expo, attracting a record 64 million visitors. Kamekura’s winning design for the official poster for overseas use depicts his minimalist, geometric interpretation of the five petals of a cherry blossom – a culturally resonant symbol of Japan, prized for its ephemeral beauty

Photograph: The Merrill C Berman Collection

[eirianabryce]

The 1937 World Expo in Paris

credit: @rarehistoricalphotos, Wikimedia Commons, Culturedarm.com, Pinterest

Read more here.

[squidinkarchives]

Panapet Novelty Radio, 1970s

"The Panapet radio is a round novelty radio on a chain, first produced by Panasonic in the early 1970s to commemorate the World Expo in Osaka"

Source: Independence, MO Mockingbird Estate Sales & Auctions

[studiokultuurscape]

Perspectives of form: where do you stand?

[saythesame-consultation]

world expo osaka kansai Japan

I introduced official pavilion as below!

[capybara-is-watching]

オリンピックと万博は、三丁目の夕日世代に刷り込まれているカーゴカルトの一種だと思うのだ。手詰まりになってきたら、オリンピックと万博さえやれば、海の向こうから富がもたらされるという奇妙な信仰だ。おれはむしろ、オリンピックや万博は、世界的な参勤交替の一種だと思っている。

Xユーザーの冬樹蛉 Ray FUYUKIさん

[spokanefavs]

Fifty years ago Jim Downard attended the Expo '74 in Spokane. He reminisces about the efforts to host a World's Fair in Spokane, highlighting the transformation of downtown and the participation of various countries.

[isotexglobal]

Chem TECH World Expo 2024

Visit us at Hall No. - 3, Stall No. P-23 to learn about our sustainable solutions for chemical industry, petro and chemical industry and bio pharma industry.

[crescentmoonmemory]

[kep1er-net]

chaehyun update ☆ bubble messages

[kaelula-sungwis]

🇦🇪 Al Wasl Plaza | Dubai by Dave Wong

[nigelspeaksonexpo2025worldsfairs]

World Expo Profits and Attendance

Hello, today is a fairly simple blog post. I’ve often wanted to have a reference to put behind me stating that a certain Expo underperformed or wanted to have specific numbers behind me stating the Expo as a concept has declined. So, that’s why I’ve collected my own data below. I’ll likely reference this again at some point in the future, but for now, peruse the data as you wish! (Do note, all data has a certain asterisk to it, since revenue and budget are self reported. Not all countries report over expenditure of the budget, so costs that balloon past the publicly recorded budget aren’t included below. Additionally, remember that inflation affects all the numbers, especially older ones)