Aichi-ken Travel Forum

Looking for advice on visiting EXPO 2005. Would like to hear from anyone who has actually visited the EXPO for prctical advice about touring the site. Would like advice on getting to/from the Expo site, which pavillions were hits vs misses, etc. Thanks!

Haven't been so I'm not sure how practical this information is but, I'm currently in Japan now and saw a TV program about the Expo the other day. The most memorable part of the program was the amount of waiting time necessary to enter the pavillions. For example they showed the Toyota Pavillion and the waiting time from the end of the line to the entrance was more than 2 hours. In order to see the mammoth exhibit people had to wait more than 3 hours to reach the conveyor sidewalk which allowed them 1 minute 30 seconds to see the mammoth bones which were in a large glass display case.

Thanks!

We have just got back from Japan and went to Expo - my advice is get there early, make sure that you get a good full day there and if possible make reservations beforehand or as soon as you get there, avoid holiday periods, make sure you visit the central zone first as the seto zone is very small and not as busy. The toyota pavillion, Hitachi pavillion and Global House (which has the biggest screen ever made without joins and has a preserved mammoth) were big star attractions especially the toyota pavillion which had a robot show and also a 2 1/2 hour queue which was pretty nuts. But even some of the more popular world pavillions had long queues as well so be warned.

What would you say were your favorite pavilions at the expo? Is there anything you suggest not wasting time in line to see?

We travelled from Hakone so ended up getting there late and made a blunder going to the seto side before (to avoid the queues) and then ended up in a long queue to take the fuel cell bus to the main area - don't do this!! So didn't end up getting to the main area until 12.00 which left us about 5 hours to look around - we thought it best not to get stuck in a 2 and a half hour queue as it wasn't worthwhile with the amount of time we had there. So make sure you take the limo Maglev train and not bus (as it takes you to the Seto area).

The pavillions that had the queues in particular was essentially the technology pavillions:
Toyota Pavillion - which had a robot show on and has gone down really well in Japan
Global House - which has a preserved mammoth
Hitachi Pavillion

They also have a robot that speaks English, Japanese and Korean which is quite cool - but this hasn't got a big queue, its just by the North Gate (Main Entrance)

Most of the world pavillions you don't really need to queue for and get round them quite easily - however Japan for example had an hour or so queue. They have loads of them to see depends what ones your interested in. Some of them are good others just are trying to sell stuff.

There seems to be a way of reserving a time for some of the pavillions but we arrived too late to do this. However one thing to note is that in Nagoya Station they have an information desk set up to find out this kind of information beforehand. If you get into the Toyota Pavillion or Global House you must send us the pics.

The main area is very big so you just simply can't do everything in a day anyway it's really about trying to suss about what you're interested in beforehand and making sure you get there preferably as soon as it opens and making sure you get a good day out of it. I don't know about your plans but we were cramming a lot of travelling in 2 weeks so the last thing we wanted to do is spend all day in expo in a queue but we did go in the first week and during the Japanese holiday season so that didn't really help our chance.

The SETO area has workshops which is quite good but isn't very crowded so if you do decide to go there it's best to just leave it until the end of the day if you have time.

It was a good day out - enjoy!!

Thanks for the great info! Will be glad to forward pictures IF we get into the Pavilions. HAve been lucky enough to get the EXPO tickets ahead of time so we will try to make reservations for the corporate pavilions before our arrival! If you have any other hints or Japan highlights from your trip-would love to hear about them!

David

I've forwarded via email a short version of our notes from our trip with some pics etc as I haven't got everything up onto my VT site yet - it might be useful for your trip and it includes some stuff about expo.

Hi there. In the next couple of days I will finish my extensive review of every country's pavillion at expo 2005. it will be up shortly, so i will let you know.

thanks!

Hi There-

Just got back from Japan. If anyone is interested, you can go to my Homepage and find a description of the Expo and my impressions of the fair.

David

Thanks to David for the very informative and enjoyable write-up about your Expo trip. Any suggestions/tips regarding the reservation system? We will be going on the first week of August. I would not be able to do the reservation right now, because it has to be done a month before the trip. But I was looking at the reservation system and all I see are "F"ulls. I can buy the tickets here in Toronto, but if I won't be able to get any reservations anyway, then there is no point in getting the tickets here(more expensive). Can you please tell how you did it? Thanks again.

Sorry for the delay-
I bought my tickets on line and had them shipped to my hotel in Nagoya. The hotel then forwarded them to me here in Atlanta. I was able to get them early enough to use the online reservation system for the dates that I was going to be in Japan. If the reservation dates have already passed, then buying ahead of time might not be worth the trouble. I did hear that the Expo had SAME DAY reservations in addition to the advanced reservations. It seems like you go to the pavilion that you are interested in visiting (mainly the big corporate ones) and use the automatic tickt machine to make a reservation for the same day. From what I hear, the same day reservations go very fast so you have to try it as arly in the morning as possible.