Challenge At Osaka

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31653, 13 April 1968, Page 12

Challenge At Osaka

In allocating $2.5 million to building and furnishing a New Zealand pavilion at the Osaka world fair in 1970 the Government is launching New Zealand’s biggest international publicity effort on an appropriate scale. The allocation may seem large to some; it will be modest compared with the lavish expenditure by many countries. It would be folly to suppose that New Zealand could make a worthwhile impression on a smaller budget Competition for attention will be intense. The Japanese organisers are determined that Expo 70 will represent as many countries as possible. They have been planning to build pavilions to be shared by small or poor countries. As at the Montreal fair last year wealthy nations will vie with each other to produce spectacular and highly original architecture and they will employ their most ingenious minds to create compelling exhibits. The world has the example of Japan’s success in staging the Olympic Games. Expo 70 is intended to surpass all previous fairs in size, variety, and ingenuity. The New Zealand Commission on Expo 70, which held its first meeting this week, faces an immense challenge.

“ Man and his World ” was the theme at Montreal “Progress and Harmony for Mankind” will be the theme at Osaka. It is one which will enable countries to show their material resources, especially those which they would like to share through international trade. It may also inspire exhibitors to express their ideas on international relations, and to advertise their cultural and social achievements. Inevitably, New Zealand will present itself as a food-producing country. In recent years many countries have recognised Japan’s potentialities as an importer of agricultural and forestry products. Last year nine countries held 11 food fairs in Japan. Early this year the United States prepared to send goods worth $1 million to Japan to be sold at a fair sponsored by the United States Department of Agriculture. They included butter, cheese, fruit, leather, and timber products. Although the Japanese Government restricted the importation of these stocks the American plan showed the keenness of the United States to sell in Japan. New Zealand cannot afford to lose this opportunity to compete with other food exporters who are looking for markets in Asia and to claim a share of the Japanese market. For several years New Zealand has been spending about $30,000 on each of the trade fairs it has chosen to support The scale of the Osaka venture is so different that unprecedented and adventurous ideas are called for. Already, the advanced character of tile architecture at Expo 70 is foreseeable. A Japanese industrial group has announced that its pavilion will be a huge dome of inflated beams formed by tubes’ made of chemical fibres. The pace set at this fair to usher in a new decade will demand the best effort that New Zealanders can produce.