Osaka World Expo pavilions: from marvellous to meh

There is no such thing as “perfect” when it comes to the World Expo in Osaka, Japan. Some pavilions come closer to it than others (the evening water and light shows possibly closest of all). Whether you are planning to travel to the expo before it closes in October or are simply curious about what’s on offer, here is a rundown of the first eight of the 16 pavilions I was lucky enough to visit.

Part two will follow in the coming week.

Angola

Angola’s grand pavilion is a bold signal of its position as one of Africa’s biggest economies – and one of the fastest growing in the world. While the building tells the story of an ambitious nation clamouring for attention (it did, however, open two-and-a-half months late), its exhibition offers a small, human, personal story.

Guests are ushered inside in groups of a couple of dozen at a time, where they find a scattering of small seats and a 180° cinema screen. Over the next 15-or-so minutes (following a welcome from the country’s president, naturally), visitors hear the true story of a girl who survived childhood malaria and went on to become a leading doctor.

The story is charmingly told, the artwork and whimsical animation are sublime, and the time truly flew by. It is quite a large pavilion to have only one attraction, but it was a good attraction. The pavilion has a café and gift shop, but both were shut when I visited.

The Angola pavilion © Photo credit: Alex Stevensson

Czechia

Czechia’s pavilion is a spiral ramp, not unlike driving up one of those serpentine car parks. Is this upward facing corridor a space to queue? Is this the main attraction? It’s hard to tell at first. One thing is for certain, it was hotter inside than any other pavilion I went to, and the complementary fans provided little relief.

I spent most of my time in Czechia not knowing what I was looking at, or why. But I really liked it anyway.

Giant yellow glass roses hanging upside down from a ceiling? Czech.

Some sort of techy thing (or was in an ornament of some sort?) being 3D printed? Czech.

Japanese children’s board games tethered down and displayed without clear explanation why they’re in this pavilion? Czech.

Lots of fairly rudimentary pictures of naked people drawn directly onto the walls? Czech.

In short: it was great!

And when you finally emerge onto the roof terrace, you are greeted with an excellent panoramic view of the whole expo site.

Don’t stray too far though: I kept following the edge of the terrace, which started getting narrower and narrower, until I literally got stuck. It turns out I had wandered behind the restaurant because somebody had forgotten to close the gate. I was shooed away by a chef, like a naughty schoolkid. Again, great fun.

The Czechia pavilion © Photo credit: Alex Stevensson

France

Most countries interpreted the expo motto “Designing future society for our lives” along lines of sustainability, technological advance, or human development. France interpreted it as a need for more Louis Vuitton luggage, champagne and Paris catwalk couture.

From the enormous copper staircase outside to the room entirely made of suitcases, it was definitely more Dubai than Dijon. More Monte Carlo than Metz. But impressive it certainly was.

Among the pavilion’s panoply of striking features are original on-loan artworks, including a gargoyle from Notre Dame cathedral. That was a tingly, hairs-standing-up feeling, staring it in the eye for a few moments and reflecting on the centuries of Parisian life it must have surveyed from on high.

“We didn’t completely forget nature,” our guide beamed (clearly aware of the critiques his pavilion has faced) as we entered an outdoor courtyard with a tranquil wishing pool in the middle. People are encouraged to touch the 1,100-year-old tree by the pool and pass their hopes and wishes onto it. But I couldn’t help thinking the traumatised tree has more pressing things to worry about, having been ripped up by its roots in France, hacked down to size and thrown into a cargo plane to the other side of the world, all in the name of demonstrating how in-touch we are with nature. The already-very-old olive tree will spend the rest of its days in Japan, where, hopefully, the strange new climate won’t kill it.

While I was still feeling sorry for the tree, others around me were lamenting that the genuine-fake Alsace wine cellar doesn’t offer any wine to taste. And given the pavilion’s outrageous opulence, it’s maybe not unfair of them to hope that a drop of wine could be thrown in.

The France pavilion © Photo credit: Alex Stevensson

Future of Life

Every world expo has a forward-looking exhibit that is likely to become something for us to look back on decades later with slight embarrassment. You know the sort of thing: “Back in such-and-such year, they thought we would all be using flying cars/living on the moon/made of marmalade by now. Weren’t they silly!”

Looking 50 years into the future, this pavilion might be remembered fondly for exploring AI and robotics, asking how these technologies will change and how we will interact with them. For example, one of its main features is a “child” robot learning about the world and humanity. In other words, it looks at how advancing technology will adapt to us, rather than the other way round.

Even though it was packed with sights, the large pavilion has proven strangely forgettable to me, although I was definitely not bored.

I do remember that it ends with a robotics and light show featuring three enormous pink/purple robots with hyperrealistic human movements and facial expressions – sitting on very unhuman, fabric covered hydraulic bases (think the leathery bit at the bottom of a car’s gearstick), performing what I interpreted as a crossover between dance and intimidation tactics. The reason for their behaviour, or how important it might become to our future lives, was not abundantly clear. But it was fun to watch.

The Future of Life pavilion © Photo credit: SIP

The Future of Life pavilion © Photo credit: Alex Stevensson

Germany

Germany took the expo brief very literally. Tackling the theme of future sustainability head-on, the pavilion itself (next door to Luxembourg’s) is designed to be recyclable, reusable or even compostable. The bits that aren’t any of these things have been rented – including audiovisual equipment, mirrors and even the plants in the garden – and will go onto other places after the expo finishes.

There is a degree of green evangelism in there, and quite likely a bit of greenwashing too, but what is a world expo without a dollop of idealism? The projects the pavilion highlights were genuinely interesting – ranging from hyper-energy-efficient housing to the circular economy, clothing made from dog wool (!), and even recordings of the “music” of greenhouse gas bubbles slowing down as peat wetlands are restored.

There is a bit of information overload, caused in part by the individual inclusion of all 16 federal states for some parts, but the atmosphere is very pleasant (especially the garden), the hand-held audio guides are super cute, and the pavilion staff seem to genuinely enjoy their job.

The Germany pavilion © Photo credit: SIP

The Germany pavilion © Photo credit: Alex Stevensson

Japan

As the host country, Japan has the biggest pavilion at the expo – and it has done plenty with it, too. Tackling sustainability, hand in hand with high technology, Japan tries to give us a glimpse at what emerging technologies might be able to do for us relatively soon.

The general theme is using waste to make useful things in a sustainable and circular way. Capturing wastewater (like sewage), for example, and using it to feed algae that can then be used to make plastic alternatives, or even food (capturing carbon in the process).

The ideas are impressive, and the science is very real – but how much of the display is fake came as a slight letdown. For example, an impressive display of large metal tanks used for cultivating algae was actually just “illustrative”, our guide confirmed. In other words, they’re just empty tanks.

In the next room, a real human oversees the 3D printing of items of furniture, made from sustainable algal plastic. As the items are sold in the shop, I know the furniture is being made somewhere, but watching the machine “hard at work” for several minutes, zero progress was made on its half-finished stool.

Algae-green Hello Kitty featured prominently, as did green glass cows and soybeans to illustrate the protein potential of algae. The inclusion of a real rock from Mars – though awesome – felt crowbarred in, just because they could.

Saying all this, I don’t want this review to sound negative.

The technologies showcased are amazing and they are real. They could make a big difference to the world. Furthermore, the wastewater recycling plant joined onto the pavilion is also real and works to turn the expo site’s waste into fertilisers and (near) drinking-grade water. The pavilion’s large pond is filled with this water.

Luxembourg

The Luxembourg pavilion is naturally worthy of its own dedicated article, which you can read here.

Also read:Getting under the skin of Luxembourg’s World Expo pavilion

Nepal

Located right next door to Luxembourg (other side to Germany), Nepal surpassed even Angola in terms of teething troubles. I visited this pavilion only to the same extent as anybody else had visited it, which was to admire the quite pleasant and distinctive red brick house from the outside.

It would look quite at home in Nepal (according to Google Images) – maybe even in parts of Northern Europe where brick buildings are common – but it is quite strikingly unique at the world expo.

It eventually opened to the public for the first time while I was in the skies over central Asia en-route back to Luxembourg. If you go before the expo ends on 13 October, please let me know how it is.

Alex visited Osaka on an official press trip that coincided with Luxembourg trade delegations to Japan, including visits from Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume and higher education and digitalisation minister Stéphanie Obertin.

(Transportation costs were paid by the Luxembourg government and all other costs covered by Mediahuis Luxembourg.)