Kansai looks to lessons from Olympics for own international events japantimes.co.jp - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from japantimes.co.jp Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Osaka – “Osaka is phlegm. All they think about is making money. There’s no public spirit.”
So said Yoshiro Mori, former prime minister and now former president of the Tokyo Organising Committee, in April 1988.
At the time, he was an up-and-coming leader in the Liberal Democratic Party speaking to supporters in Osaka’s neighboring Kyoto.
What Mori’s audience in the ancient cultural capital where looking down one’s nose at the merchants of Osaka has long been a cliche thought of his remarks was not publicly recorded. But many Osakans never quite forgave Mori, who would, in later years, make more disparaging remarks about their city.
January 16, 2021 - The Japan Times japantimes.co.jp - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from japantimes.co.jp Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Jan 16, 2021
Osaka – One of the primary functions of local economic federations anywhere is to serve as both a political lobby and an economic think tank. Economic and social policies that are approved by local politicians, and sometimes funded by a national parliament, often originate in these federations, which have their own visions of what the future should look like.
In the Kansai region, the future, as envisioned by the Kansai Economic Federation, looks something like a penguin.
The 2030 vision released last year by the federation, which includes Kansai’s largest and most influential firms, emphasized that what was really needed to revive the region was to encourage the spirit of a “first penguin.” The concept refers to the first of the birds to break away from a huddled group on the ice, in order to jump into the sea and search for food despite no guarantees it can be found, and the presence of predators.
Jan 12, 2021
Osaka – On Dec. 25, the Japan Association for the 2025 World Exposition approved the basic plan for the Osaka-Kansai Japan Expo 2025. International promotional activities for the expo are now underway, and will expand further through 2021.
But increasing costs and the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic has created growing challenges to ensuring the event is a financial and public relations success.
What is the basic plan for Expo 2025?
Under the grand theme of “Designing Future Society for Our Lives,” the Osaka-Kansai Japan Expo will take place on Yumeshima island on the Osaka city waterfront between April 13 and Oct. 13, 2025. It’s estimated that around 28.2 million people, including 3.5 million inbound tourists from abroad, will visit.