Expo '75 ( ) was a

World's Fair A world's fair, also known as a universal exhibition or an expo, is a large international exhibition designed to showcase the achievements of nations. These exhibitions vary in character and are held in different parts of the world at a specif ...

held on the island of

Okinawa is a prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 km2 (880 sq mi). Naha is the capital and largest city ...

in Japan from July 20, 1975 to January 18, 1976.

History

Expo 1975 commemorative 100 Japanese yen coin

Expo 75 was conceived, in part, to commemorate the American handover of

to Japan in 1972. The theme of the exposition was the oceans, and focused on

oceanographic Oceanography (), also known as oceanology and ocean science, is the scientific study of the oceans. It is an Earth science, which covers a wide range of topics, including ecosystem dynamics; ocean currents, waves, and geophysical fluid dynamic ...

technologies, marine life, and oceanic cultures. The motto was “The sea we would like to see" (海－その望ましい未来, ''Umi - sono nozomashii mirai''). The event was located on the western end of the

Motobu Peninsula The is a peninsula in the Yanbaru region of Okinawa Island. It is surrounded by Nago Bay to the east, the Haneda Inland Sea to the north, and the East China Sea to the west.Okinawa Island Guide " Nago City / Motobu Town / Nakijin VillageOkina ...

, with a site area of 1,000,000 square metres (including sea areas). Thirty-seven nations participated, along with eight domestic and three international organizations. The keynote speaker on opening day was American author James A. Michener. The exposition is the given reason for the construction of the Nakagusuku Hotel.

Expo 75 site

The site was divided into four “Clusters” in which there were pavilions and exhibits:

Fish Cluster

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

Pavilion * Sumitomo Pavilion * Aquarium *

Dolphin A dolphin is an aquatic mammal within the infraorder Cetacea. Dolphin species belong to the families Delphinidae (the oceanic dolphins), Platanistidae (the Indian river dolphins), Iniidae (the New World river dolphins), Pontoporiidae (the ...

Land * Expo Future Car (C.V.S.)

Peoples and History Cluster

* International Pavilion No. 1 * Okinawa Pavilion * EXPO Hall * Hitachi Pavilion * Oceanic Culture Museum — Audio-visual hall, planetarium and exhibition hall displaying ships, carvings, and other cultural items from the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contin ...

area. * Mitsubishi Pavilion — Ride featuring underwater technologies * International Pavilion No. 2

Science and Technology Cluster

* World Ocean Systems (W.O.S) — Whale-shaped theater. * Mistui Children’s Pavilion *

Fuyo is a Japanese ''keiretsu'' descended from the Yasuda zaibatsu, Asano zaibatsu and Okura zaibatsu. They are major business grouping in Japan up to World War II. In 1948, Yasuda was dismantled, with its key financial arm Yasuda Bank becoming Fuji ...

Group Pavilion — Featuring oceanic robotics and aerial garden. * U.S.A. Pavilion * Aquapolis — Centerpiece floating city. *

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

Pavilion * Australia Pavilion *

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

Pavilion *

U.S.S.R. The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

Pavilion * Expo New City Car (K.R.T.)

Ships Cluster

* International Pavilion No. 3 * Midori/Icearama Pavilion – Iceberg-shaped building displaying a 3,000-year-old ice core, and a 12,000-year-old ice core. * EXPO Port * Guest House There was also EXPO Port, EXPO Beach, and an amusement park named EXPO Land.

Highlights

The centerpiece of Expo 75 was the Aquapolis a floating city designed by Japanese architect

Kiyonori Kikutake (April 1, 1928 – December 26, 2011) was a prominent Japanese architect known as one of the founders of the Japanese Metabolist group. He was also the tutor and employer of several important Japanese architects, such as Toyo Ito, Shōzō Uc ...

. It was envisioned as a concept of how humans could live harmoniously on the ocean, and a prototype for marine communities. The Aquapolis was constructed at a shipyard in Hiroshima, Japan, and then towed to the Expo site. The facility was funded by the Japanese government, and cost 13 billion

yen The is the official currency of Japan. It is the third-most traded currency in the foreign exchange market, after the United States dollar (US$) and the euro. It is also widely used as a third reserve currency after the US dollar and the e ...

. It was thirty-two meters high, and had a one-hundred square meter deck. The Expo Transit System featured two types of automated, electric transport vehicles: The "Expo New City Cars" (KRT) ran on a 3.7 km track almost the whole length of the site, there were three stations. The Expo Future Cars (CVS) track was at the north end and connected the Fish Cluster with Expo Land via five stations.

Post-Exposition

After the Expo was over, the site became

Okinawa Commemorative National Government Park is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 Square kilometre, km2 (880 sq mi). ...

(国営沖縄記念公園), also known as

Ocean Expo Park The ocean (also the sea or the world ocean) is the body of salt water that covers approximately 70.8% of the surface of Earth and contains 97% of Earth's water. An ocean can also refer to any of the large bodies of water into which the worl ...

. Most of the exhibits were removed, although the Aquapolis was retained as an attraction and eventually hosted four million visitors. As years passed, the number of visitors to the Aquapolis declined and it was closed in 1993. In October 2000, the Aquapolis was towed away to

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowin ...

to be scrapped. The main tank of the aquarium facility that was opened at Expo was the largest indoor aquarium in the world at that time with a water volume of . After that, we continued to use the Aquarium facility used in Expo'75 and opened it as the Okinawa Ocean Expo Aquarium. The Okinawa Ocean Expo Aquarium was closed in 2002 due to aging and then reopened as

Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium The , formerly known as the Okinawa Ocean Expo Aquarium, is located within the Ocean Expo Park in Okinawa, Japan. It is a member of the Japanese Association of Zoos and Aquariums (JAZA), and was the largest aquarium in the world until it was sur ...

. The Tropical & Subtropical Arboretum were later constructed on the site.

External links

Official website of the BIEPreparing Okinawa for Reversion to Japan: The Okinawa International Ocean Exposition of 1975, the US Military and the Construction State
{{Authority control World's fairs in Japan 1975 in Japan History of Okinawa Prefecture