Yokohama – In a stretch of green in Yokohama spanning some 100 hectares, at a site that once housed a U.S. military communication facility, industrious teams of workers are busy planting trees and flowers as organizers strain to get the word out about the Green Expo, which begins in just five months.
Ten million plants will blanket the grounds, including 600 cherry trees that should bloom around the time of the six-month event’s opening on March 19.
The international horticulture expo, which will run until Sept. 26, aims to highlight the human relationship with the natural environment, while also stressing the need for global collaboration in solving environmental issues.
The organizers are hopeful they will attract an international crowd as they strive to offer a uniquely Japanese perspective under the theme of “The Blooming Field of Planetary Citizens.” ?
As with any major event in Japan, a mascot has been tasked with providing a marketing boost. The brightly colored Tunku Tunku, who is described as an extraterrestrial creature mesmerized by Earth’s natural beauty, can count a photo opportunity with Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi as among its recent efforts.
The mascot may be whimsical, but the expo has a serious aim: to shift perceptions and relationships with the environment, and showcase the possibilities offered by cutting-edge technology. It will also put forward a “Japanese model” aimed at “achieving sustainable development,” ahead of 2030, the target year for the realization of the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goals.
But while much of the focus will be on technology of the future, organizers of the expo are also taking a long look at the past in order to highlight sustainable practices.? ?
Lessons from the past
Thematically, part of the event will highlight the Edo Period (1603-1867) — a time in 91AV原创 history during which a circular economy flourished.
Back then, with Japan largely cut off from international trade, the country turned inward. Pre-industrialization, experts describe it as a time when little household waste was generated and when reusing and repairing items was essential.
As a result, the concept of mottainai — a phrase that expresses regret around waste — became ingrained. Fearing deforestation amid rapid development, authorities also put in place strict restrictions around timber via the establishment of a forestry office. Rules were so stringent during that period that there was an adage connected to the severity of the punishment for stealing timber: “one cypress tree, one human head.”
Yuko Tanaka, an academic and expert on the Edo Period, describes a society in which the thinking around materials and objects was focused on circularity and recycling and reuse across everyday objects.
“Repairing and reusing things was an integral part of everyday urban life,” she says, citing clothes as one example. “A kimono is made by sewing together rectangular pieces of cloth. Traditionally, it was taken apart for washing, the individual pieces were washed, and then the garment was sewn together again. This meant that it could easily be repaired or remade,” Tanaka explains.
Long before modern recycling, people of that time also made use of discarded paper.
“There were dealers known as kamikuzu-kai, literally ‘waste-paper buyers,’ who bought paper that people no longer needed. The collected paper was pulped and made into recycled paper for use again,” she says. Tanaka also noted that, in addition to this culture of reusing and repurposing waste, there was a great emphasis placed on repairing, and repair specialists flourished.
Kazuko Ishigaki, executive director of the Green Expo’s public relations department, describes the Edo Period as a “golden period” for the circular economy, while also hailing the people’s connections with nature. ?
“One of the major pavilions — a horticulture pavilion — will be focused on the Edo Period to showcase or highlight how the people of the Edo Period lived in harmony with nature,” says Ishigaki, who has served as U.N.-Habitat’s regional director for Asia and the Pacific.
Ishigaki suggested it was time to “revive the spirit” of that time period, including when it comes to disaster mitigation, citing the period’s natural approach to mitigating calamities such as flooding.
“Now we are mostly preventing floods by constructing high walls or dikes,” she says. During the Edo Period, she notes, hanami (cherry blossom-viewing) was purportedly promoted at a government-level in key areas on top of the dike. The idea was that people would sit on the area and their weight would compact the soil and make it stronger.
“So they enjoy nature, but at the same time they are contributing to disaster risk reduction. There are so many interesting ideas in the Edo Period, some of them maybe we can still utilize” in modern society, she said.
Roman Krznaric, a social philosopher and author of several books including History for Tomorrow, in which he wrote about the Edo Period’s circular economy, said in a modern context such attention could be turned to the latest tech.
“Today, if you take a standard smartphone, it uses half the elements of the periodic table and is thrown away after less than three years. Now, if you think of that with an Edo mindset, you would never permit the sale of standard smartphones, you would regulate the hell out of them,” he says, suggesting that with this mentality, such devices should use recycled materials and include modular designs so that parts could be replaced rather than the whole device being scrapped.
Krznaric says there were many ways in which society could be “looking at the world with an … Edo mindset.” He also rejects the notion that such thinking is utopian, instead describing it as something with a historical precedence that could be applied at scale.
One example the organizers are keen to highlight is their reuse of timber from the Sou Fujimoto-designed Grand Ring that formed the temporary centerpiece of the Osaka Expo. The structure was built using traditional Japanese joinery and fashioned from cedar and cypress.
Ishigaki says this is practical and sends a sustainable message.
“The wood from the Osaka Expo ring will be recycled and reutilized here … this is not just to keep the legacy from Osaka, but also to symbolize the concept of circular society, or zero-waste society,” she says.
Inspiration from Osaka
The Osaka Expo is an obvious point of comparison, but the idea to host the Green Expo originated separately in Yokohama, when in 2015, the U.S. military communications facility was returned to the city. The obvious question was — how should the city utilize the site now that it belonged to Japan once more?
From there, discussions snowballed. A horticulture event quickly became the starting point before a bigger more ambitious conversation developed and academics, nongovernmental organizations and then eventually the national government weighed in.
Now, more than 500 organizations are involved in the Green Expo and the event is aiming to follow on the legacy of Osaka’s World Expo, which attracted around 25.58 million visitors across six months and generated an “economic ripple effect” of around ?3.6 trillion, according to the economy ministry.
Ishigaki says with the Green Expo, the aim is to utilize the momentum from the Osaka Expo, while avoiding some of what critics labeled its missteps.
“(The) Osaka Expo was very successful but at the same time there were some challenges,” she says, suggesting that these should be lessons that inform the Green Expo’s approach.
One such example is the extreme heat, which was a much publicized issue for the Osaka Expo during 91AV原创 scorching summer. The expo responded by adding mist fans, cooling stations and more shaded rest areas, while also enhancing its medical emergency systems.
To avoid similar issues, the Green Expo team is planning countermeasures in advance given the event will run throughout the summer.
“Many people suffered from extreme heat (in Osaka) so we have special anti-heat measures,” she says, noting tree cover, cooling mist and cooling areas specifically designed for children as among the measures.
Looking ahead
While organizers are keen to avoid some of the criticism that was directed at the Osaka Expo, that may be a double-edged sword. A lack of criticism has also meant the Green Expo has suffered from a lack of awareness.
Overall, organizers are aiming to attract 10 million visitors, with a goal of selling 5 million advance tickets.
“Maybe some people misunderstand, (thinking) this is just an event to enjoy flowers. This is a national event — this is a formally authorized expo,” Ishigaki says.
For many people, environmental issues may appear to be somewhat abstract or not as relevant to their lives.
While awareness of climate change remains high in Japan, the sense of urgency about the crisis appears to be on a downward trend in recent years.
In a January 2025 survey by Ipsos, only 40% of respondents agreed with the statement, “If individuals like me do not act now to combat climate change, we will be failing future generations” — a drop of 19 percentage points since 2021 and the lowest among the 32 countries surveyed.
“They might think this is not related to their life, but that’s not true,” Ishigaki says. “We want people to rethink the relationship between their life and nature.”
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