Cultural Formation of the Expo in Japan: The Case of Producer Shinya Izumi

Abstract

The Japan World Exposition Osaka 1970 was the first Expo to be held in Japan and in Asia. The planners of the Osaka Expo not only struggled to express the uniqueness of the first expo in Asia, but also revised and reinterpreted its significance and format so that it would be accepted by Japanese society. It famously established a model that subsequent Expos, large-scale expositions, and even theme parks followed. However, little attention has been paid to producer and designer Shinya Izumi (1930-), who was involved in conceiving the idea of the Osaka Expo and went on to participate in all Bureau International des Expositions (BIE)-certified events held in Japan, thereby shaping the direction of expos in Japan. This paper seeks to examine the kinds of expos Izumi created through an analysis of his writings and activities, personal connections, and the influence of preceding expos. Specifically, I focus on two key concepts: matsuri (festival) and kankyō (circumstance/surrounding/environment), which I suggest played a crucial role in Izumi’s (and by extension, Japan’s) formation of expo images. Additionally, this paper suggests that the understanding and idea of the expo, originating in Osaka, eventually spread internationally until the 1994 BIE resolution.



Author Information
Mitsunori Eto, University of Tsukuba, Japan

Paper Information
Conference: ACCS2021
Stream: Cultural Studies

This paper is part of the ACCS2021 Conference Proceedings (View)
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To cite this article:
Eto M. (2021) Cultural Formation of the Expo in Japan: The Case of Producer Shinya Izumi ISSN: 2187-4751 The Asian Conference on Cultural Studies 2021: Official Conference Proceedings https://doi.org/10.22492/issn.2187-4751.2021.9
To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.22492/issn.2187-4751.2021.9


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Posted by James Alexander Gordon