Osaka Expo - Day 3 (25-07-2025)

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We return to the Expo after a day at Universal Studios. This time we arrive shortly after our entry time, 11 a.m. It is already evident at the entrance that there are significantly more people than on previous days, but after all, it's Friday. The first pavilion we encounter is Nepal, but we only see the shopping and restaurant area, as the queue is too long. Between the heat and the fact that it's the last day, we don't want to wait in long queues, so we wonder what we'll be able to see.

We try with Germany, but—as expected—they’ve closed the line. Korea, however, is accessible, and it’s the most beautiful pavilion. At the entrance, each group is asked to say, in one word, what matters most to them: my son speaks and says “family,” which is exactly what I would have said. In the first hall, voices are heard first, followed by music derived from those voices. Then there’s an experiment where your breath is transformed into giant bubbles that fall from the ceiling. In the last room, there’s a video about a girl in 2040 who, with her friends, uses AI to complete a musical piece her grandfather was composing when he died. I’m in tears.

We pick up where we left off two days earlier, with the Saudi Arabian pavilion. Beautiful architecture, reminiscent of desert structures. The content reflects the image the country wants to project: technology, natural wonders (especially marine), sports, women running in parks without veils and wearing tight pants. And once again, oil is never mentioned.

After a delicious lunch at the Spanish restaurant, we resume with a pavilion I’m very curious about: India’s. Among the big countries, India has always been the one that believed the least in the Expo: in Milan, its pavilion was basically a market, and at others I’ve attended, it wasn’t even present. This time it’s a bit better, but still not what you’d expect from a country of its size: nice architecture, evocative, but lacking a narrative thread. The most interesting part is still the market, where I meet someone who worked at Milan’s Expo.

Nearby are a series of smaller pavilions: we find three with little or no line. We start with what they call the “Baltics,” but even though they say “Baltics are one,” in reality it’s only Latvia and Lithuania; Estonia is one of the three EU countries not present (the others are Greece and Cyprus). There’s a lot of talk about start-ups—I learn Vinted is Lithuanian, while my son notes the absence of Revolut (also Lithuanian). Basketball is also a topic, especially Lithuanian basketball, which played a central role in Shanghai (where Lithuania was by herself).

Next, we visit Cambodia and Algeria, two “tourist” pavilions—Cambodia focuses mainly on its temples. Algeria places great emphasis on women and celebrates its two Olympic champions. One of them is quite well known in Italy, her name is Imane Khelif; I think they rally around her, while if she were Italian, she’d probably have more haters here than in the countries of her rivals.

We also visit two “common” pavilions. One has a bit of a line at the entrance; I thought it was due to security checks, but no, those at the entrance to the Expo are considered sufficient. The reason is that there are two countries at war, choosing opposite approaches: Israel completely ignores the war, instead talking about its humanitarian missions (elsewhere) and the “lives it saves,” which, in the current context, sounds chilling; Ukraine, on the other hand, makes the war its central theme: the stand is an exhibition of gadgets in national colors and the message “not for sale,” which makes a strong impact.

Other stands that stuck with me:

• Jamaica features giant photos of Usain Bolt and Bob Marley, and the bobsled in their colors;
• the Somalia and Dominican Republic stands are also focused on sports—Somalia speaks of youth empowerment through football, in collaboration with Como, and the Dominican Republic highlights baseball;
• the Slovenia stand is beautiful, centered on tourism;
• someone actually talks about oil: East Timor.
• The Central African Republic is perhaps the only country, apart from Ukraine, that talks about its problems: deforestation and species extinction.
• Benin's stand is curious, first talking about its history, omitting that in the early years after independence it was called Dahomey, then talking about its tourist flows, without specifying which places are visited and why, then talking about the fact that it offers citizenship to the descendants of slaves, and only at the end writing “aware of the role we played in the slave trade”.

We also visited the ‘Earth at night’ pavilion: a huge globe depicting the earth at night, with lights. We try to go to the Italian pavilion, asking if they will let us in as Italians. They say no, but tell us that there isn't much of a queue, ‘an hour to an hour and a half’, but we don't have that much time. We only have time for one more large pavilion, so we choose Singapore, right next to Italy: impressive, but with few links to the country. If you went in blind, you would only realise which country it was towards the end.

We take a tour, trying to see the areas we haven't seen yet, but we don't go to the area opposite our entrance, the one towards the west entrance. However, we should have managed to see all the national pavilions, or almost all of them, from the outside. There is still time for a small pavilion: we choose Bangladesh. It tells the story of the country, starting with the struggle for independence, and devotes a lot of space to its ties with Japan, including ties that are not something to be proud of: it mentions the judge at the Tokyo war crimes trial (a judge representing India, but originally from present-day Bangladesh) who contested the legitimacy of the trial and called for the acquittal of the defendants.

We leave, thinking about everything we didn't get to see. I particularly think of pavilions that I have fond memories of from other Expos and that I didn't see this time because they could only be visited by reservation (the Netherlands) or weren't present at all: first and foremost Morocco (the most beautiful in both Zaragoza and Shanghai), then Mexico (the largest country not present) and New Zealand. See you in two years in Belgrade

Osaka Expo - Day 2 (23-07-2025)

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We have reserved entry at 11, but actually get in almost an hour later. First we visit a temple (you have to book a time slot for entry, but it’s just a minimum time and you can enter at any time after that). This time, we stop at the women's pavilion, despite the expected 45-minute wait (which ends up being a little less). It's absolutely worth it, as the pavilion is really well done. It presents three women from three different backgrounds: for rich countries, the Japanese writer Banana Yoshimoto; for middle-income and poor countries, respectively, a Mexican and a Sudanese activist. Each visitor follows a path dedicated to one of these three individuals—I get Yoshimoto—then there’s a series of displays about the progress of women's rights.

It's lunchtime: we stop at the Canada restaurant to eat poutine (a Canadian dish made with potatoes). However, we can’t visit the pavilion, as it's only by reservation unless you’re Canadian. The first national pavilion we visit is that of the United Arab Emirates: very impressive, both for its architecture—based on date palm trunks—and for its content, which talks about the innovative projects they're involved in, especially on sustainability, and about their schools. The first thing that comes to mind when you think of the UAE, however, is never mentioned: by now, fossil fuels are more “unmentionable” than opium or cocaine. It’s also mentioned that they hosted the COP28 climate summit, but omitting that they were chosen precisely to involve oil-producing countries.

Next door is Qatar, but we don’t feel like queuing for a country similar to the one we’ve just seen. The line for Vietnam is much more manageable: an interesting pavilion, which talks about the country’s past and present, addressed to both tourists and investors. We then walk past the French and US pavilions, where the lines are truly prohibitive, and we take refuge in one of the few pavilions without a queue: Mozambique. Many stop there to rest. The pavilion is small and essential, focused on start-ups founded by local youth. Here we begin to notice a peculiarity of this Expo, which I hadn’t found at previous ones: almost all countries give a lot of prominence to their ties with the host country. Palau will even claim to have good memories of the Japanese occupation.

We skip Ireland, again because of the line, and head to Malaysia. Another very interesting pavilion, presenting all the regions of the country, with a large scale model of Kuala Lumpur, and focusing on study opportunities (it was the dedicated week). Then we visit the first “common” pavilion of the small states, some of which aren’t so small, like Kenya. There are also my old acquaintances Barbados and St. Lucia, which I visited on a cruise: the latter has a giant image of their greatest national heroine, Julian Alfred (the airport is even named after her). The story of North Macedonia is interesting, about the center of Skopje destroyed by an earthquake in 1963 and rebuilt by Japanese architect Kenzo Tange.

We pass by Germany, which has closed the line. So we head to Thailand: a very large, well-made pavilion, but monothematic, focused on healthcare. It discusses the 20 hospitals authorized to treat foreigners and the fact that they’re among the top countries in the world for “health tourism”—a reality hard for us to imagine. It’s late, it’s dark, but right after comes Spain, a pavilion so big that it manages a huge flow of visitors without a queue. There’s a flamenco show, then a room with videos and a hallway with postcards, from the '60s to today, about all aspects of the country. The best of the day—the Spanish never disappoint.

We leave knowing that, after 2 days out of 3, we still haven’t even set foot in more than half the area. On the way out, we find a massive crowd: it takes us over half an hour to snake through the lines to reach the metro (no more than 200 meters as the crow flies). In the end, though, the crowds on the metro are nothing compared to rush hour in Rome.

Osaka Expo - Day 1 (22-07-2025)

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After 10 years, I’m finally returning to an Expo—my fifth—after Hannover 2000, Zaragoza 2008, Shanghai 2010, and Milan 2015. I skipped the last two: one in a rather inaccessible location (Astana 2017), and one during the pandemic (Dubai 2021). What’s new this year is that many pavilions can be booked in advance (I’ll later find out that, of these, some can only be visited with a reservation, others also without, though with long lines); but we didn’t manage to book a single one. There were three rounds of reservations: the first, two months earlier, which we didn’t use because we didn’t have tickets yet; the second, a week before, we tried, but lost all the lotteries; the third, the day before, and by then nothing was left.

So we arrive (me and my two children) at the gates on the first day, knowing that many pavilions will be off-limits to us, but that always happens—especially the host country’s pavilion, which is usually inaccessible. Entry is smooth: they hand out umbrellas for the sun, which are supposed to be just for the entrance line, but my daughter keeps hers for the entire day (on the third day we’ll discover that the bin where we found them was actually the one to return them). The first pavilions we encounter, those outside the elevated ring that surrounds the area, are all by reservation (among them, the Japanese one); among the few exceptions is the one dedicated to women, which we skip because it shows a 30-minute queue—even though I point out it's not much. The first pavilion we visit is Portugal’s, after waiting nearly an hour in line: not very large, but interesting and dedicated to the sea, as you’d expect from that country.

We had considered eating at the Portuguese pavilion’s restaurant, but it’s already almost 2 p.m. and the kitchen has closed. We eat in a nearby food court, with lots of stands, almost all Asian: it’s crowded, but we find seats. On the way out, we look with curiosity at the big Turkmenistan pavilion, but the queue puts us off. Instead, we visit Bahrain’s: nothing special, but it gives an overview of the country and its history, with a focus on the pearl tradition.

We reach one of the pavilions we were most looking forward to—the “Nordic” one, which includes the country where my son lives, Sweden, along with Denmark, Norway, Finland, and Iceland. It turns out to be the biggest disappointment of the Expo: small, lacking any narrative thread, and treating five countries with many differences (and fierce rivalries) as if they were the same. I recall that in Milan, the pavilion for Sweden alone was at least four times bigger.

Things go better with Czechia (which is now the official name): one of the most original pavilions—a tower you climb via a spiral ramp, full of curious modern artworks. You can even have a duel with puppets with swords, controlled from below. At the top, there’s a bar: we have a beer (and take photos, see below). We skip China and Kuwait due to long lines and continue with Brazil, which does have a bit of a wait, but we get in after about half an hour. The first hall is all white—apparently meant to resemble a rainforest—and at first I think that’s it and say, “nice, but what does it mean?” Then I discover there are two more halls, with photos and videos, very interesting.

We get back where we start, have to skip Austria and Switzerland since they’re reservation-only, and finish with Colombia, which probably turns out to be the most interesting of the day, offering an overview of the country from wildlife to literature. Before leaving, we go up briefly onto the elevated ring, but we’re too tired to walk along it. It’s about 7:30 p.m. and it’s getting dark—there’s no daylight saving time here.

Expo di Osaka - 3^ giornata (25-07-2025)

 Torniamo all'Expo dopo una giornata agli Universal Studios. Stavolta arriviamo poco dopo il nostro orario d'ingresso, le 11. Si vede già all'ingresso che c'è molta più gente degli stessi giorni, del resto è venerdì. Il primo padiglione che incontriamo è quello del Nepal, ma vediamo solo l'area negozi e ristorante, troppa coda. Tra il caldo e il fatto che è l'ultimo giorno non vogliamo fare lunghe code, quindi ci chiediamo cosa riusciremo a vedere.

Proviamo con la Germania, ma com'era prevedibile ha chiuso la coda. E' invece accessibile la Corea, ed è il padiglione più bello. All'ingresso a ogni gruppo viene chiesto di dire, in una parola, quello a cui tengono di più: parla mio figlio e dice "family", che è la stessa cosa che avrei detto io. Nella prima sala si fanno sentire prima le voci e poi una musica derivata da queste voci. C'è poi un esperimento in cui l'alito viene trasformato in bolle giganti che cadono dal soffitto. Nell'ultima sala si vede un video su una ragazza del 2040 che, con le sue amiche, completa con l'IA un brano musicale del nonno, che era morto mentre lo componeva. Ho le lacrime agli occhi. 

Riprendiamo da dov'eravamo arrivati due giorni prima, col padiglione dell'Arabia Saudita. Bell'architettura, che ricorda le costruzioni nel deserto. Il contenuto è l'immagine che adesso il paese vuol dare di sé: tecnologia, bellezze naturali (soprattutto marine), sport, donne che corrono nei parchi senza velo e con pantaloni aderenti. Anche qui, il petrolio non viene mai nominato.

Dopo il pranzo al ristorante spagnolo, molto buono, riprendiamo da un padiglione che mi incuriosisce molto: quello dell'India. L'India, tra i grandi paesi, è sempre stato quello che ha creduto meno dell'Expo: a Milano il suo padiglione era sostanzialmente un mercatino, nelle altre in cui sono stato non c'era nemmeno. Stavolta è un po' meglio, ma non quello che ci si aspetterebbe da un paese delle sue dimensioni: bella architettura, suggestivo, ma senza un filo conduttore. La parte più interessante è ancora il mercato, dove incontro uno che ha lavorato all'Expo di Milano.

Nelle vicinanze ci sono una serie di padiglioni più piccoli: ne troviamo tre con poca o niente coda, Cominciamo da quello che chiamano "baltici", ma nonostante dicano "Baltics are one" in realtà sono solo Lettonia e Lituania, l'Estonia è uno dei tre paesi UE assenti (gli altri sono Grecia e Cipro). Si parla molto delle start-up, apprendo che Vinted è lituana, mentre mio figlio nota l'assenza di Revolut (anch'essa lituana). Si parla anche del basket, soprattutto lituano, che a Shanghai aveva un ruolo centrale (la Lituania era da sola). A seguire, visitiamo Cambogia e Algeria, due padiglioni "turistici", la Cambogia presenta soprattutto i templi. L'Algeria punta molto sulle donne e celebra anche le sue due campionesse olimpiche. Una è piuttosto famosa anche in Italia, si chiama Imane Khelif: penso che loro si stringono dietro di lei, mentre se fosse italiana avrebbe più hater da noi che nei paesi delle sue avversarie.

Visitiamo anche due padiglioni "common". In uno c'è un po' di coda all'ingresso, pensavo per via dei controlli, invece no, quelli all'ingresso dell'Expo sono ritenuti sufficienti. Ci sono infatti due paesi in guerra, che scelgono approcci opposti: Israele ignora totalmente la guerra, anzi parla dei suoi interventi umanitari (altrove) e delle "vite che salva", che nel contesto attuale suona agghiacciante, l'Ucraina invece ne fa il tema centrale: lo stand è un'esposizione di gadget coi colori nazionali e la scritta "not for sale", di grande impatto. 

Altri stand che mi sono rimasti in mente:

• la Giamaica presenta le gigantografie di Usain Bolt e Bob Marley e il bob coi loro colori;
• incentrati sullo sport anche gli stand di Somalia, che parla del riscatto dei giovani attraverso il calcio, in collaborazione col Como, e Repubblica Dominicana, che punta sul baseball;
• bello lo stand della Slovenia, incentrato sul turismo;
• c'è qualcuno che parla del petrolio: Timor Est;
• la Repubblica Centrafricana è forse l'unica, Ucraina a parte, che parla dei suoi problemi: deforestazione ed estinzione di specie;
• curioso lo stand del Benin, che prima parla della sua storia, omettendo che nei primi anni dopo l'indipendenza si chiamava Dahomey, poi parla delle suoi flussi turistici, senza specificare quali luoghi vengono visitati e perché, poi parla del fatto che offre la cittadinanza ai discendenti di schiavi e solo alla fine scrive "consapevoli del ruolo che abbiamo avuto nel traffico di schiavi"

Abbiamo visitato anche il padiglione "Earth at night": un enorme mappamondo che raffigura la terra di notte, con le luci. Proviamo a passare dal padiglione italiano, chiedendo se ci fanno entrare in quanto italiani. Ci rispondono di no, ma ci dicono che non c'è molta coda "un'ora-un ora e mezza", ma noi non abbiamo tutto questo tempo. Abbiamo tempo ancora per un solo padiglione grande, e scegliamo Singapore, proprio accanto all'Italia: suggestivo, ma con pochi legami col paese, se uno fosse entrato alla cieca avrebbe capito solo verso la fine di che paese si trattava.

Facciamo un giro, cercando di vedere le aree che non abbiamo ancora visto, ma dalla zona opposta al nostro ingresso, quella verso l'ingresso ovest, non passiamo proprio. Dovremmo comunque essere riusciti a vedere da fuori tutti i padiglioni nazionali, o quasi. Rimane tempo per un padiglione piccolo: scegliamo il Bangladesh. Parla della loro storia, partendo dalla lotta per l'indipendenza, e dedica molto spazio ai legami col Giappone, anche legami di cui non ci sarebbe da andare fieri: parlano infatti del giudice del processo di Tokio per i crimini di guerra giapponese (giudice in rappresentanza dell'India, ma originario dell'odierno Bangladesh) che contestò la legittimità del processo e chiese l'assoluzione degli imputati.

Usciamo, pensando a tutto quello che non siamo riusciti a vedere. Io in particolare penso a padiglioni di cui ho bei ricordi di altre Expo e che stavolta non ho visto in quanto visitabili solo su prenotazione (Paesi Bassi) o non c'erano proprio: in primis Marocco (il più bello sia a Saragozza che a Shanghai), poi Messico (il più grande paese non presente) e Nuova Zelanda. Appuntamento fra due anni a Belgrado