Japan’s Commissioner General Kato (right) and Japan Pavilion Producer Toshiki Kiriyama holding an image of the event space of the Japan Pavilion (Aug. 7 at Japan External Trade Organization in Akasaka, Tokyo）
The groups to participate in the Japan Pavilion for the international exposition in Milano (EXPO Milano) to be held in Italy, 2015, were officially announced on August 7. 33 local governments and 12 organizations including the Japan Agricultural Co-operatives (JA) group will attend as a team “All Japan” and introduce various cultures of food and farming. The number of local governments participating in this EXPO is the highest ever.
EXPO Milano will be held for 184 days from May 1 to October 31 next year with a theme of “food.” In an event space of the Japan Pavilion, there’ll be events such as workshops or performances related to Japanese food and culture.
25 groups consisting of 33 local governments such as Hokkaido, Kyoto and Fukushima are going to participate. There are some groups working together, and Shizuoka and Yamanashi Prefecture will attend an event working with the same theme “Mt. Fuji and various food ingredients.”
The JA group will participate three times, each in June, July and October with the theme of “diversity of agricultural production” and “variety of dietary lives” of each country.
The concept of the event space is “All Japan,” aiming to revitalize international exchanges as well as local and industrial development. Located beside restaurants and a food court, and also near the exit of the exhibition, the space can be expected to attract a lot of visitors. The events will be held almost every day.
With “washoku” or Japanese food registered as UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage, other countries are getting more and more interested in Japanese agriculture and food culture. The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries wants to generate a tailwind by EXPO Milano.
Tatsuya Kato, Japan’s Commissioner General for EXPO Milano, insists “it is significant to work together as All Japan trying to provide information by utilizing the event space of the Japan Pavilion.” He also says with expectation “in Japan Pavilion, we’d like to introduce unique food and dietary culture rooted in each area as well as introduce Japanese diversity, which is our theme for this event, in a simple way through events concerning traditional arts closely related to agriculture, forestry and fishing of each region”
(Aug. 8, 2014)