A glimpse into Expo 2025

Hearing from my daughter that her family had a great time at the Expo 2025 

at Yumeshima Island, Osaka,

I made up my mind suddenly to visit there just to see what it is like.

 I registered for an Expo ID, bought a week-day ticket, reserved admission date and time,

and I was there the next day May 8th.

The white big circle in the map below is the Grand Ring, which  is a representative symbol 

of the Expo Osaka and is the largest architectural structure in the world.

The central zones of the venue with overseas pavilions is enclosed within the Grand Ring

 as the notion of the world as one.

Though Japan Pavilion itselfl is outside the Ring, other Japanese pavilions are inside the Ring.

Expo 2025 Official Site

The Grand Ring is a vast circular structure with a circumference of 2 kilometers.

The Skywalk, the pathway on the roof, is two-tired, rising 12 to 20 meters high.

It is made of local woods, from hinoki cypress to sugi cedar.

Under the Ring is shaded and very cool with comfortable breeze from the sea.

It is the fusion of cutting-edge and traditional Japanese carpentry nuki-joints techniques 
seen in Japanese shrines and temples. 

Metal reinforcements are added for anti-earthquake measures.

Nuki is Japanese style of joint connection.

The Forest of Tranquility located at the center of the Expo site symbolizes  

humans' coexistence and harmony with nature.

It is a relaxing place amid the hustle and bustle of the site.

There are many fantastic buildings I've never seen before.

The unique, distinctive, experimental architecture is possible

because the temporal pavilions are not subject to the building standard code.

Some pavilions including Portugal, Commons-D, The US, France, Ireland, 

Canada, and Germany Pavilions

Autonomous  trash box robots patrol about 2-kilometer Grand Ring 

except on rainy days and extremely crowded days.

Visitors can dispose of trash as they pass by.

I walked along the Ring looking over the pavilions and the sea as well as skywatching.

A large globe "Earth at Night" with a diameter of 1 meter is Wajima-nuri lacquerware which is 

characterized by the delicate beauty of its jet black and gold coloring. 

The globe is a symbol of reconstruction, having miraculously remained undamaged in the Noto Earthquake January 1st, 2024.

Wajima Museum of Urushi Art

The sun is setting over the Rokko Mountains.

I'll return in the late September as  I could reserve admission to Italy Pavilion.

Linked to Mosaic Monday

Sky-dyed flowers and fresh greenery

The sky-dyed Nemophila always remind me of a poem by KANEKO Misuzu.

空色の花/Sora iro no hana/ Sky-Blue Flowers 

Listen close, you little flowers,

Color of the blue, blue sky.

Around here there used to be

A pretty black-eyed girl,

Always looking at the sky

Like I was just doing now.

Dawn to dusk the blue sky

Shining in her eyes,

They turned one day to little flowers

That even now watch the sky.

If what I say is right, why,

Flowers, you must know

More about the real true sky

Than wise professors do.

I’m always looking at the sky

And thinking lots and lots

But what’s real and true I don’t know.

I bet you see it all and do.

Wise flowers don’t say a thing,

Just keep looking at the sky.

Those blue eyes, sky-dyed,

Still aren’t tired of watching

(Translated by D.P.Dutcher)

Another post about Nemophila; The blue sea of Nemophila by the Sea of Osaka (2019)

With Sakura season behind us, new spring leaves have bursted into life.

Leaving the blue sea of Nemophila, I walked through the fresh greenery 

of Nagai Botanical Garden, Osaka City.

Green leaves are sparkling on the water.

Sakura Front has already moved to the northernmost Hokkaido.

There are only remnants of late-blooming multiple-petaled Yae-zakura in Kansai region.

We are in the middle of the "Golden Week", four national holidays and weekends

 from the end of April to the beginning of May. 

Today, May 4th, is Greenery Day and tomorrow is Children's Day.

It's so refreshing and calming to be basking in the shades of green and mild sunshine.

Linked to Mosaic Monday

I'm in the pink with Sakura

During the 桜 Sakura (cherry blossoms) season, I'm in the pink strolling through 

the graceful blossoms.

I have an emotional attachment to the  endearing nature of Sakura

as the epitome of transient beauty in this world.

Sakura's nickname is 夢見草, which literally means dream-viewing-flowers.

Sakura make me feel as if I were in a dream or conjure up the memories 

of my late families.

April 12th

Three Buddhist figures engraved on the stones are surrounded by Sakura 

in the small garden of  勧学院 Kangakuin, a place to learn anything about Buddhism 

at Todaiji Temple.

-　春日野園地  Kasugano-enchi, Nara Park -

Nara Park is a spacious area with parks, gardens, temples, shrines, cultural heritages,

museums, woods, brooks, ....and  local people's houses.

It is not so bustling with people like in Kyoto.

Visitors enjoy the beauty of the park interacting with free-roaming deer.

April 1st

This is Somei-yoshino variety with the backdrop of Camellias.

-茶山園地  Chayama-ench, Nara Park -

At the foot of the Mount Wakakusa, there is a small wooded hill.

It is a place to admire the double-flowered Nara-no-kokonoe-zakura, 

which is rare and endemic to Nara.

Nara-no-kokonoe-zakura blooms at almost the same time as the widely-planted

Somei-yoshino.

As you see in the photos above and below, the color of the Somei-yoshino is pale-pink

while that of the Nara-no-kokonoe-zakura is brighter.

Nara-no-kokonoe-zakura

April 8th

Clouds upon clouds of soft pink blossom floaitng over deer and people 

make magically serene pictures.

- 佐保川  Saho River -

April 9th

Ordinary residential road becomes popular sightseeing spot at this time of year.

Almost all the Sakura along the river is Somei-yoshino.

An elementary school

 

- 鷺池 Sagi-ike Pond, Nara Park -

浮見堂 Ukimi-do Pavilion, April 12th

Overlooking Ukimi-do

- 若草山　Mt. Wakakusa -

The view of Nara City and Ikoma mountain range

Don't they look like enchanted gardens enveloped in ethereal blossoms?

The places introduced here is also in the last year's post.

Sakura season, 2024 (part 2)

Linked to Mosaic Monday

Saturday's Critters