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© KYODOConcerns persist over Osaka Expo preparations 6 months before opening
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Burning Bush
Me and the missus got two tickets for the Expo from the bank.
Hope we can get down to Osaka to enjoy it. I've heard so much about that part of the country.
smithinjapan
"A plan to operate flying taxis, viewed as one of the event's highlights, has been dropped after all four operators gave up on carrying passengers in their electric aircraft due to safety challenges, adding to worries about ticket sales."
Boom. When Osaka won the right to host -- despite the Expo organization saying they will not grant it to Osaka if they went ahead and okayed the plan to build a casino -- I said they will have next to nothing to offer the world to see in terms of new technology. It's just an excuse to highlight Japan, once again, and at the cost of local taxpayers. They have sold HALF of the expected tickets, and at a loss of seven million that is saying a LOT, and it's cost several times more than they promised. They will not get the crowds they expect. No one is going to fly to Japan to see Expo. It'll probably be 95% Japanese people who attend, and mostly to see if they can see what others think of them, and maybe 4% foreign residents if that. At best there will be a few travelers from overseas who are curious after having been to USJ already.
I do hope I'm wrong, and I hope it's a success, but I don't think it will be -- at least not economically, besides having benefitted the construction companies with lucrative contracts and paydays. Get ready for Osaka to raise prices and taxes so that we can all "shoulder the unforeseen costs together!"
Eastman: "just cancel it,no more potemkin villages paid by us"
Right... haha. They won't even cancel an elementary school Sports Day if it's postponed several times due to terrible weather -- you have to put on a show for grandma and grandpa.
garypen
How do you say "boondoggle" in Japanese?
robert maes
One of the funniest articles of the year. Best thing of the expo so far!!
“ we hope to make a profit for future expo’s” . No expo has ever made a profit and this one will make one gigantic hole.
I have to go see N “ artificial heart “ and some meteorite or stone ??
and go to the expo to eat mediocre sushi ??
pray there is at least good sake to wash it all down.
Speed
Osakan taxpayers might start thinking about paying and bailing out their local government about to go bankrupt. What a stupid idea this was.
kurisupisu
The area around Yumeshima is ocean.
There aren’t any high density population to fly over.
The advent of drones carrying cargo has been on trial since 2019 Singapore.
https://www.airbus.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2019-03-airbus-skyways-drone-trials-worlds-first-shore-to-ship-deliveries
By 2025 there will be a further push for drone infrastructure there.
Japan is so behind and caught up in red tape -the future is unfortunately elsewhere…
Lindsay
They’d better get their act together and get it finished. They won’t get a twelve month reprieve like they did with the Olympics.
Fighto!
To be honest it's bizarre "World Expositions" will exist in 2025.
With the complimentary flying taxi rides for visitors canned, I'm not sure I'm super keen to visit. What are these nations putting on that will be so compelling to visit?
Legrande
Public funds pilfered again a la the Olympics citizens can't confirm the true costs of materials, labor etc.
Peter Neil
japan flight rules prohibit experimental aircraft from taking off and landing at different locations. they must take off and land at the same location.
the “safety concerns” were probably the government not allowing a waiver and not the operators.
kurisupisu
The Japanese politicos and civil servants are uniquely stubborn and slow in their response to nothing novel unlike other first world countries advanced in technical breakthroughs
divinda
Instead of the flying taxis, just replace them with some Mario go-karts and all the gaijin tourists will then flock to the Expo for the chance to drive around the dystopia of uncompleted and unused exhibitor sites for all the countries which have bailed out. And since it would be considered a private location not on public roads, there's no need to have actual drivers licenses.
Peter Neil
they could just fill that big bowl with 一万 notes and set it on fire. probably cost less.
Bret T
I hope it gets finished on time and does well.
Are there plans for the wooden structure after the Expo? Just curios what something like that can be used for in the long run.
藤原
Lets waste a galactic amount of money playing fantasy future. While this money could be used toward natural disaster recovery and prevention of future natural disasters.
GBR48
Everyone else in Japan is complaining of overtourism. These folks are complaining of not having enough. Is nobody happy?
Aoi Azuuri
Increasing immense cost endlessly, victimizing reconstruction of Noto peninsula, methane gus generating and its explosion risk on landfill where former final industrial waste disposal site, hydrogen sulfide risk, isolation risk when natural disaster and lack of practicable evacuation plan, lightning strike risk against iconic big wooden ring, drink water shortage, useless sun-shade or dangerous rest places under hanged big rocks, fire ants, and more, This Expo is too problematic, its holding itself is already failure.