환경논총 제60권

CONTENTS
이슈: On World Expos and EastAsia
On World Expos and eastAsia-Introduction ···················································································
Wybe KUITERT, Seoul National University, Republic of Korea
4
Expo as a commercial trade fair: global art history of paper and leather craft ·····································
UKAIAtsuko, University of Tokyo, Japan
15
Struggle of a non European country in the World Fairs: the case of Japan ········································
TERAMOTO Noriko, Atomi University, Japan
25
Long-term trend of industrial displays, awards & pavilions ······························································
ICHIKAWAFumihiko, Kwansei Gakuin University, Japan
34
Chinese Expo’s: place and hosting city ··························································································
HASae-bong, Korea Maritime and Ocean University, Republic of Korea
43
Common people involved with the Chosun Expo, as seen form visual records ··································
ISHIKAWAAtsuko, Nomura Kogei Co.Ltd., Japan
51
Outcome and current state of Expo 2012 Yeosu Korea ····································································
CHUNG Soon Young, Place Lab Inc., Republic of Korea
68
Spectacle, technology, and non-place ···························································································
JEON You-chang, Ajou University, Republic of Korea
73
도시·환경 미래전략과정 토론노트
도시·환경 미래전략과정 토론노트 ······································································································ 80
2017년 8월 환경대학원 석·박사 학위논문 목록
박사학위 논문 요지 ··················································································································· 144
석사학위 논문 목록 ··················································································································· 158

On World Expos
and EastAsia
Proceedings of a symposium, edited and introduced by Wybe Kuitert
[이슈]
WorldExpositionshaveahistoryofmorethanoneandahalfcenturybynow.Itisauniversal
movement that has become an arena for communicating such messages as of nationality,
history, future, heritage, innovation, or creativity by governments and citizens in between and
among each other. Naturally there is critique. Expos can be used for purposes of propaganda,
power play, or promote consumerism not in balance with resources.Against this background
the present proceedings report on the ‘Expo Landscape’ symposium that was held in the
Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Seoul National University, 4-5 November 2016,
hoping to advanceourunderstandingofthelandscapeofExpos.
한세기반이상의역사를가지고있는국제박람회는자국의정체성과역사,미래와유
산,혁신과창의의메시지를세계각국에전하는무대이다.그러나그안에는비판적시
각이존재한다.국제박람회는국가의정치적선전이나권력분쟁,또는자원의균형적
분배를 저해하는 소비주의의 목적으로 이용되기도 한다. 이러한 배경 하에, 본 프로시
딩은 국제 박람회의 이해를 증진하고 학술적 연구를 심화시키고자 2016년 11월 서울
대학교 환경대학원에서개최된‘ExpoLandscape’심포지엄의 내용을정리했다.
Colophon
©AuthorsandWybeKuitert.
Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproducedorutilizedinanyformorbyanymeans,electronicormechanical,includingphotocopying,recording,orbyanyinformationstorageandretrieval
system,withoutpermissioninwritingfromtherespectiveauthor.Copyrightissuesthatmayarisefromuseofmaterialsfromthirdpartiesshouldbeaddressedtotheauthor.Publisher:Graduate
SchoolofEnvironmental Studies, Seoul NationalUniversity
ISSN 1226-9000/2288-548X

4
JES 60 On World Expos and EastAsia[이슈] On World Expos and eastAsia-Introduction
On World Expos
and eastAsia
-Introduction
Wybe KUITERT 1
Building images of a nation
Looking back in history World Expositions have success-
fullyservedasanarenaforcommunicatingmessagesofpride
ofthenationfortheimperialistpowersofJapanandtheWest
in the 1870s-1920s. It was an age in which traditions were
invented and building the nation was done in competition
among states in power. Expos were another tool to reinforce,
or even create national identity, promote national unity, and
institutionalize art, crafts, industries, and wealth in such a
manner as to become belonging to the nation, never hesitat-
ing to include messages on wealth required by colonial con-
quest.2
Byadvertisingandexhibitingallofthisopenlywithin
frames of a nation’s
exhibit, expos were an
eﬀective, public com-
munication tool. Au-
tomatically, in face of
the hosting nation, the
position of the nation
that came as guest and
wantedtopresentitself
wasinquestion.
1)Wybe KUITERT, Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Seoul National University, e-mail address: goedemorgen@snu.ac.kr.This text
was developed from my key address and following discussions held at the international symposium, Expo Landscape, November, 4 and 5,
2016attheGraduateSchoolofEnvironmentalStudiesoftheSeoulNationalUniversity.
2) See Hobsbawm, Eric andTerence Ranger The Invention of tradition, Cambridge [1983], 2000 p.271 on the French nineteenth century expos
and, for the political intentions of the one of 1889 with reference to Debora L. Silverman, 'The 1889 Exhibition:The crisis of bourgeois indi-
vidualism' Oppositions, A Journal for Ideas and Criticism in Architecture (Spring 1977) p.71-91. Even Christian propaganda blended with
messages of civilization to ﬁnd mutual support in the London Expo, see: Rev. George Clayton, [Three] Sermons on the Great Exhibition.
London:BenjaminLGreen,(1851),pp.25-35.
Figure 1. U.S.GovernmentBuildinginacentralpositionattheAlas-
ka-Yukon-PacificExpositionin1909;Coll.UniversityofWashington.

5
On World Expos and EastAsia[이슈] On World Expos and eastAsia-IntroductionJES 60
On the site, the host country would take the most prominent
position in the ground plan, aligning friendly states on its
sides with which relations were to be confirmed, while less
urgentconnectionswerepositionedalittlefurtheraway.Thus
the US government took the central position in the plan of
the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition held in 1909 (Fig 1).3
The main axis was flanked by a pavilion for the ‘Philippines
& Hawaii’ taking two Pacific island kingdoms together, with
the Alaska pavilion in an opposite position. A little further
away were the ‘European’ and ‘Oriental’ exhibits, still close
to hosting nation the United States. Perceptions of geopoliti-
cal power as well as the importance of crafts and industries
such as separate pavilions forAgriculture and Manufactures
reflected in the positioning of pavilions – Japan opposite to
Canadaattheend–allcompetinginnationalpridewherethe
hostcountry took thestageasmainactor.
Within such rather rigid and simplistic frames of power,
allkindofcommunicationandexchangeonotherlevelstook
place in World Expos. How a state could improve its image
of the nation was rather determined by the manner and fash-
ioninwhichitparticipated.Casestudiesdiscussedinthenext
chapters on France and Japan, Japonism and art-nouveau
illustrate such mechanisms. In the nineteenth century expos
staged in Paris, the French cultural hegemony was not as ab-
solute as it may seem at first glance. Japan’s traditional art
was appreciated by the French for its artistic, flowery value,
and the French government purposefully saw an opportu-
nity here to enhance the attractiveness and quality of its own
home-producedcraftwork,inspiringtheart-nouveau.Onthe
individuallevel, French craftsmenwereinspiredbyJapanese
printed paper work coming in, re-inventing the art of printed
leather - that incidentally had come from northernAfrica via
Spain and the Netherlands in previous centuries - into prints
on high quality paper, imported in turn from Japan for the
French craftsmen who also tried their hands at this craft.4
Ja-
pan was at first lauded with a grand prix for its traditional
arts but later criticized for having given in to commercialism,
losingtradition.ThisgeneratedastrongimpetuswithinJapan
to present itself in a more traditional way, shaping the visuals
ofanimagerepresentingtheentirenation.Theworldcameto
see Japan as a nation of flowery art. Such transnational rela-
tions were bound to occur when nations came together, en-
hancing or even constructing images of whole nations on the
higherplaneofabstraction,suchasJaponism,orart-nouveau
as national art movement.5
Today representation and image
building of a nation state seem to have ceased being impor-
tant for the old imperialist powers. But processes of nation
building do not occur synchronal all over the world.Younger
nations come in later.Aimed at image building for the nation
wastheCanadapavilionattheHannoverExpoheldin2000.6
And looking at the Shanghai Expo 2010, the central pavilion
was the red nest of China itself, or inAstana, where the 2017
Expowillbeheld,theKazakhstanpavilionsitsagaininacen-
tralposition.
Building images of a region
Ways to stage an Expo are various, and one way that does
not rely on nation building seems to be the branding of a re-
gion, and fuse it with regional development as was done in
the Yeosu Expo 2012, Korea. This Expo achieved a clear
idiosyncratic message because of strong locality: the ocean.
From the beginning there was a Korean Government Pavil-
ionbutthatwasnotprominent.Ratheritwasthoughttohave
the regional infrastructure driving the expo. The ocean as a
3) Officialgroundplan;Alaska-Yukon-PacificExposition,Seattle.June,1–Oct,16,1909;CollectionUniversityofWashington.
4) See chapter1byUkaiAtsuko
5) See chapter2byTeramotoNoriko
6) RandalRogersFromthePaintedPasttoDigitalFuturesQuebec2004.

6
theme sparked the installation of a large sea world aquarium
amusement park that still functions, illustrating a successful
element of this regionally branded approach. But the unilat-
erally optimistic perception of the organizing committee and
responsible politicians is striking.7
The confidence about the
successoftheeventproclaimedfromthissidemufflesthere-
ality.Ticketswerefranticallysoldatheavydiscountstomatch
an impossible ten million visitor mark. In the end ticket sales
barely touched halfway the goal of 190 billion Korean won,
butatleastitcouldbeproudlystatedthatmorethaneightmil-
lion people had visited the site. The physical infrastructure
of theYeosu region and neighboring areas is too small-sized
to benefit economically, or to stage a proper after-event use
of the site. Also the administrative infrastructure is just too
small to handle such a huge project. Large scale embezzle-
ment by just one official went hand in hand with the far too
politically-optimistic visitor prognosis that was never ques-
tioned. Immense losses not only weigh heavy on the local
community, even the national government has struggled to
cover expenses. It was thought that the Yeosu Expo would
revitalize the whole region, but today theYeosu population is
actuallydwindling.8
The picture is not much different, though a little less disas-
trous, for another regional expo theAichi Expo 2005 held in
Japan. There seems to be a sustainable after-use, as citizen-
participation NGO’s actively use the site. But these NGO’s
are sponsored by the Aichi Prefecture.9
Actually, therefore,
the prefecture pays for citizen participation, sustaining the
whole event continuously with public funds and political
motivations, rather than that it runs from itself as an intrinsic
part of a regional infrastructure and economics, or a land-
scape system in function. Regionally staged expos should
be questioned to find out whether ambitions are in balance
with the actual, regional potential. Even when supported by
a national government, after-use will not easily be tuned-in
with the smaller scale regional infrastructure, administrative
andphysical.
Future, nation, andcivilization
Optimismandpromisesofthefutureareintricatelywoven
into the staging of world expos. In the mood of the 1920s
withitsdeterminationtoneverhaveaworldwaragainandin
full belief in coming world peace, it was felt that the role that
expos played in the international arena had to be regulated. It
led to the official Convention Relating to International Exhi-
bitions that was signed in Paris, November 1928. The Con-
vention clearly presupposed the ‘education of the public’ as
the prime function of a world expo, reflecting idealism about
the possibilities of educating the masses.10
Education must
be understood as shaping citizens into models and patterns
that contribute to national economies and societies; educa-
tion’s goal was to become a productive, consuming, tax-
paying citizen, a value-adding member of the nation.As the
foremostimportantpurposeofanexpohowever,itinevitably
presupposed that there are umbrellas of participating nation
states under which the public can be educated. For a world
expo the secondary condition was then, of course, that nation
7) See chapter6byChungSoonYoung.
8)VariousNewspaperarticles:KoreaHerald,2012-08-09‘YeosuExpotocompletethree-monthrunSunday’;KoreaTimes,2012-08-12:‘Yeosu
Expocomestoendafterthreemonthsofmediocrity’;KoreaTimes,2012-10-29:‘EmbezzlementinYeosu’;NamhaeanSinmun,2013-09-03
‘여수시 인구 29만 붕괴 초읽기’ on declining population ofYeosu after the Expo; The Korea Herald (The Investor), 2016-09-07 ‘Korea to
limit gov’tfundsforint’levents’.
9) SomethingthatbecameclearafterasitevisitandinterviewswithresponsibleofficersontheAichisite,October5, 2014.
10) For example, the biennial conference of theWorld Federation of EducationAssociations was held for the first time in 1923, July. Japanese
educatorsjoinedin,eversincethisfirstvenue,theWorldConferenceonEducation(世界教育會)atSanFrancisco.

7
statescometogether,asisreflectedinthesecondclauseofthe
treaty.11
Inotherwordsanationneedsanideologicalmessage
ofeducationasmuchasitneedscitizensthatbelievethatthey
belongtothenation,ifthestatewantstostageanexpo.These
twoideaswerehighlycompatibleintimesofnationbuilding,
even more so where colonial power had to be legitimized.
Notsurprisingly,theworldexpoasaninstitutionwaswarmly
welcomedbynation-states.TheexampleoftheChosenExpo
of 1929 held on the Korean peninsula, though not a world
expo, illustrates how the masses were immersed in a spec-
tacle of modernism and technological advance to spread the
message of the blessings of a new society after fifteen years
ofcolonialJapaneserule.Professionalexpobuildersgathered
from mainland Japan for the job to advertise on the site the
needs of civilization and showing prospects for the future for
example by bringing in robotichumanoids.12
In due time, newer developing nations happily joined the
world expo circus to reinforce images of their nation and to
educate their masses on the obvious blessings of national
citizenship and on the goodness of the nation-state. In this
elevated stage of communication, on top of nationality and
maneuvering pavilions in strategic positions on a site, world
expositions were and are the stage for communicating mes-
sages of future, innovation, and advance of human civiliza-
tion and global well-being as a whole. Nations proudly con-
vening in an expo to educate their public seemed to spread
messages of universally valid civilization, globally beneficial
to all of us.13
But global happiness has a conflicting relation
to the original message of the host. The Shanghai Expo il-
lustrated the double meaning of its slogan ‘better city, better
life’ that accounted not necessarily for the lives of the people
whoweredisplacedbecauseoflivinginthewrongplace-the
site where the Expo was planned, or for the migrant workers
whocameforworktotheExposite,hopingforabetterlife.14
Themessageofahostingnationisfirstofallaboutpridein
having achieved international recognition up to the point that
it is allowed to host its ownWorld Expo. For Kazakhstan the
Astana Expo 2017, for example, is a national achievement,
celebrating among many other things its 20th anniversary of
independence.15
Naturallyitis:‘ourcountryisthebiggest,the
best, and the first’ or at least the most important on the stage
of the fair. But how credible is Expo 2017’s ‘green energy’
phraseology for an expo staged in Kazakhstan?16
The nation
11) “ARTICLE 1: 1. An exhibition is a display which, whatever its title, has as its principal purpose the education of the public: it may
exhibit the means at man’s disposal for meeting the needs of civilization, or demonstrate the progress achieved in one or more branches
of human endeavour, or show prospects for the future; 2.An exhibition is international when more than one State takes part in it...” from the
ConventionRelatingtoInternationalExhibitions,signedinParisonNovember22nd
, 1928withsupplementsof1948,1966,1972,1982,and
1988.
12) See chapter5byIshikawaAtsuko.
13)“Politicotechnoedutainment”inthewordsofRandalRogers,op.cit.p.5,p.27,pp.217-218.
14) See chapter4byHaSae-bong.
15) Martin Sieff “Astana EXPO 2017TheWorld Comes to Kazakhstan"Edgekz Trending Kazakhstan News November 2012: “It will be held
duringAstana’s 20th anniversary as the nation’s capital and celebrate the emergence of independent Kazakhstan and the wider region as the
energy and communications hub of Europe,Asia and the Middle East since the collapse of communism. President Nazarbayev’s own com-
ments reinforce that sentiment. ‘This will be a turning point for Kazakhstan: It will start a whole new chapter in economic development,’ the
presidentsaid.‘IwanttoemphasizetheimportanceofthefactthatforthenextfiveyearsthewholeworldwillbetalkingaboutKazakhstan,’the
presidentsaid,addingthatexposoffertheopportunitytoshowcaseandadvancethelatesttechnological,scientificandculturalachievements.”
16)Kazakhstan’sministerforEconomicIntegrationZhanarAitzhanova…seesExpo2017anditsgreenenergythemeaspointingtheworldinto
new directionsofgrowthanddevelopmentforthecomingcentury;seeMartinSieff,op.cit.

8
covers 99% of its energy needs by fossil sources, making it
the largest emitter of greenhouse gases in Central Asia with
emissionspercapitaamongthehighestintheworld.Kazakh-
stan is expected to double fossil fuel extractions and become
one of the world’s leading oil exporters as the giant oil fields
intheCaspian Searegion aredeveloped.17
How successful can the nation-building strategy be, when
the ideological message does not really fit with the reality?
Messages of nation-building are messages of power and in-
equality,whereasmessagesaboutthefutureofmankindhave
the different ring of ‘we all together’. Expos may actually be-
come a twisty thing with obviously contradictory terms that
nevertheless appear in spectacular conjunction. If handled
cleverlythey may atbestbecomeatooltofoolthemasses.
Promoting commerce
and consumerism
World Expos were in the formative decades around 1900
extremely effective in promoting produce of agriculture,
crafts, and industries as something that could be sold and
bought. Industries, companies, goods, brands, all of it could
find its place through corporate institutions with a pavilion
with exhibited goods on the shelves of the glass cases. The
process of commodification was organized top-down in the
nineteenth century in France and soon promoted globally
by systems of awards and medals. A developing country in
terms of staging World Expos was Japan and with no clear
government expo-institution in place, the entry to a foreign
Expo was organized by challenging the domestic markets to
compete.Regionalandlocalcompetitiongeneratedworldtop
level that emerged, could be recognized, and dispatched to
competewiththeworld.18
Intentionally measuring the nation not against outside and
foreign countries was the strategy for domestic expositions
staged in China, a century ago.The educational purpose was
to reinforce the nation state by installing pride domestically.
The Chinese government tried to stay away from foreign
civilizationasmuchaspossible,uptothechoiceofthesite,as
being at a distance from foreign settlements and on purpose
close to the bustling Chinese business districts. To be able to
focus on the quality of things produced at home, a dislike of
foreigners was a convenient preconception, advertising the
entrance of the site as a traditional fair with a spectacular, tra-
ditional pailou gate although inside western style buildings
were most prominently present.19
Advertising domestic pro-
duce and home-made goods, naturally involved a prejudice
against goods made abroad. The colonial government of Ja-
pan, in a different psychology, could exhibit the produce of
the colonized Korean peninsula as commodities that were
ready to enter the world market, such as rice of Jeonnam at
theChosenExhibition.20
These early examples make it clear that an ignorant public
was reared to become a class of possible customers of goods
that suited geopolitics and economy of the civilized nation.
The function of shopping streets and department stores that
lured the flâneur in Paris was replicated and inflated to na-
tional and global levels in the first European world expos.21
17) EnergypediaandAsianDevelopmentBankCountryPartnershipStrategy:Kazakhstan2012–2016.
18) See chapter3byIchikawaFumihiko.
19) See chapter4byHaSae-bong.
20)An objective of the Chosen Expo was to improve quality and production of rice, as seen in the pavilion of Cheonnam (Oral communication
Lee Min-sik);seealsochapter5byIshikawaAtsuko.
21) See on the physiology of the sauntering shopper: Huart, Louis M, Physiologie du flâneur (vignettes de MM.Alophe, Daumier et Maurisset)
AubertetCie,Lavigne,Paris,1841

9
Architecture catering to this mass psychology of consumer
civilization turned to serial production of architectural ele-
ments, with mass-produced glass and steel as can be seen in
the Crystal Palace for the London Expo 1851. Leaving the
craftsman behind, it set the tone of anonymity as a design
strategy towards immersing visitors in architecture that basi-
callyspeakingwasadvertisingvanity.22
Thelurewasthatreal
things could be seen, perhaps even touched in a spectacular
non-place, designed without concern for locality that would
only be distracting from the message and blur an intentional
psychology of immersing.
Today we see the branded things in our shopping streets
and on our screens and do not wonder in amazement any
longer.The ‘real thing’ has disappeared from the scene of the
world expo, but it changed to digital and 3D presentations.
Theexcitementtodayisthethrillofadigitalandvirtualspec-
tacle of an unreal world that cannot be seen at home, and is
anywayfarremotefromtherealitiesofthisworld.Usingsuch
techniques, an expo allures visitors again for the benefit of
investors by playing on brand-awareness and consumerism.
The psychology of lining in with the dreams of the masses
is consuming and possessing some particular brand goods
which give the enhanced feeling of being at least some-body
in the overwhelming world of information and image input
ofourdaily lives.
Expos continue to promote consumerism on global levels,
and it is still done with architectural pavilions that are de-
signed serially with enhanced digital techniques where any
imaginable surface can be produced, without any concern
forconstructionorlocality.Theemergingnon-placeprovides
the right hypnotizing ambiance, a multi-sensory spectacle to
brain wash future customers, be it towards a utopia in which
technology is the omnipotent rule. The new flâneur mecha-
nizes his body with digital tools to perceive the world while
givingintobecomeanon-autonomoussubject.23
New nation-states when planning and building expos,
seem to comply with this unconditioned lure of brand con-
sumerism,perhapshopingitwillbinditscitizenstothenation
state. Looking at the master plans proposed for Kazakhstan
2017 and Dubai 2020, we see precise proposals for serially
produced surface spectacle. The new flâneur as an anony-
mous, identity-less, consuming module in a global economy
might be exactly what these expos aim at. But consumer’s
choice for a brand is solicited by a personal identity that pre-
dates the choice. That a global big-data class of identity-less,
anonymous consumers arises not interested in whatever na-
tion-state, with volatile, unpredictable consumer choices, and
intheendnoteveninterestedinwhateverbrandgoods,seems
tobebeyondperceptionofsuchexpostaging.Theonlything
thatvanitybreedsismorevanity.Nottomentionthetotalsell-
outofourplanet’sirreplaceableresources.
Contradictory terms
in spectacular conjunction
Architects and designers given the task to realize plans for
expos are the first to inevitably run into questions of iden-
tity and place. Capital investors want to see their capital ex-
pressed,ifpossibletoreturn,whileatthesametimearchitects
and designers have to work with concepts and ideas, they are
idealists.24
Inthefieldofarchitectureanddesignwetherefore
find the incompatibility of national pride, consumerism, and
universalidealstowardscivilizationmostclearlyexpressed.
At this point it will be constructive to see how discourse
is developing in Europe. The organizers of the Expo Milan
2015 were precisely aware of the innate problem of staging
22) See alsochapter7byJeonYou-chang.
23) See chapter7byJeonYou-chang.
24) On thisfundamentalpositionofarchitecturaldesignseeManfredoTafuri,ArchitectureandUtopia,DesignandCapitalistDevelopment.

10
an expo under an educative slogan. The idealism of the de-
signers to counter the problem, is quite striking. About their
ConceptualMasterplanof 2009theywrite:
“Expo Milan adorns itself with a proud title: 'Feeding the
Planet, Energy for Life'. How can the masterplan for aWorld
Exhibition contribute to justify such a proud title? We de-
cided to only accept the invitation to design the Milan mas-
terplan if the client would accept a radically new vision for
a World Exhibition, abandoning the obsolete idea of exposi-
tionssolelybasedonarchitecturalmonumentsandoutmoded
vanity shows of national pride that expos have always been
sincethemid-19thcenturyandthatwelastexperiencedinthe
2010 Shanghai Expo with its overblown, massive structures.
...TheWorldExhibitionshouldbringtotheforeallthebeauty
of this planet's agricultural landscapes, but also all the chal-
lenges that come with overpopulation, drought, fertilization/
industrialization and patent issues for seeds by multinational
agro companies. We proposed to encourage all participating
countries to abandon the idea of individually designed archi-
tectural pavilions and instead accept to present their national
agricultural landscapes and gardens in simple and basic pa-
vilion structures provided by the organizers. Such a concept
would let all participants contribute in an equally important
way alongside a generous boulevard. None of the pavilions
would be overwhelming; none would bore us through its
idiosyncratic design ambition or divert us from the essential
content which is expressed in the message 'Feeding the Plan-
et, Energy for Life'. The large boulevard, literally uniting the
pavilions of all participating nations, would become a huge,
planetarygardenwithalongtablestretchingthefulllengthof
theboulevard.25
”
In fact the final master plan for the Expo site that was de-
livered to the BIE (Bureau International des Expositions)
during the registration ceremony of Expo Milan in Paris on
April 2010 showed already that ideals were taken too high.26
Althoughthefinalplandidnotfullycontradictthemainideas
of the architects’ original idea, it was nevertheless adapting
to the more classic exhibition standards of events of this
type (Fig 2)27
. The idea was abandoned of providing equal
amountsofspaceforeachexhibitingcountry.
25)Herzog&deMeurononthewebsiteoftheofficeofthearchitects,2014(retrieved2016,October28).Continuing:“Theorganizersaccepted
ourconceptualplanwithitsgeometricrigor,butwesubsequentlydidnotfeelsupportedinapproachingandconvincingtheparticipatingcoun-
tries to embark on our radical approach for the national pavilions. It was around 2011 when we understood that our hope to re-invent the 21st
centuryWorldExhibitionwouldfailandonlythegeometricpatternofourconceptwouldfinallyberealized”.
26) BIEwasestablishedbytheConventionRelatingtoInternationalExhibitions,signedinParisonNovember22nd,
1928.
Figure 2 Final master plan for the Milano Expo, Herzog & de Meuron, spring 2010; from touritalynow.com.

11
Again, Italy as host country took a dominant position
with The Palazzo Italia, the 7,000-square-meter Italy pavil-
ion, flanked by a second square dubbed Spazio Espositivo
Italiano, actually the Piazza delle Regioni for regional exhib-
its of the host country. Countries would have the opportunity
to rent areas ranging from 400 to 6,000 m2
, so the biggest
site was fifteen times as large as the smallest, depending on
the financial resources of each participating country. For the
poorest regions three collective pavilions were dedicated to
three geographical areas: Asia, Africa and Latin America/
Caribbean.28
Everybody equal?No.
After a visit to the Expo Milan one critique wrote: the at-
tempt of the architects “to rethink the nearly two centuries of
World Fairs’ competitive, capital-and war-driven spectacle
fromthegroundupwaspromptlyquashedbyofficials...rich
nations and companies have squeezed flashy multi-million-
euroconstructionsontotheirallottedareaslikeluxuryorganic
supermarkets, attracting customers away from their modest
neighboring stores who have nothing competitive to sell but
theirownauthenticity....Alayoutthatwassupposedtoheark-
enbacktooriginalconceptsofdemocracyhasbeenperverted
to resemble a mall of late capitalist mediocrity.... This 1:1
leveling has led to something of an ontological breakdown
among the pavilions – a world in which Cereals & Tubers,
Coca Cola, Etihad Airways, Save the Children, and #[hash
tag]Poland...belongtothesamecategory.Tothreadthemul-
tinationals and the green/ethical initiatives and the countries
together like beads on a necklace is quite clearly to homog-
enize them: sustenance, brand offering sustenance, brand of-
fering anything, nationhood, and hashtaggable identity. The
interchangeability of such categories becomes undeniable,
theyspatiallycollide:thecoffeepavilion,whereit’sveryhard
to find a cup of coffee, is actually a conglomeration of na-
tional pavilions all represented by [the coffee brand] Illy.An
item of global consumption is symbolically sorted through
nation-states and proffered by a multinational brand. There’s
no item I found to buy at Expo that hadn’t been channeled
throughthisprocess.”29
Indeed, in the present state of global economic and geo-
political world affairs, an expo easily evolves into advertis-
ing global consumption, symbolically sorted through nation-
states, and proffered by multinational brands, to borrow the
wordsofthiscritique.Buthowtenableisthatconcept?
Questioning the nation-state
Societies had learned, from the later nineteenth century on
to operate within an autonomous state to which it belonged
as civil society of the nation, with its nationals, the citizens,
as members. This model, set by the imperialist powers came
to be used by many other states as a development model for
building the nation in the twentieth century. But the nation-
state with its centralized political administration and central-
izedpowerisahistoricallydatedideaanditisincrisis.Itisan
old-fashioned, nineteenth century invention of the West that
does not generate real economic activity on a macro level.
It is not effective in preventing financial crises as we know
by now. On a micro level the nation-state is in crisis too: the
individual is alienated from his nation state that used to de-
fend his national interests, but now fails to be a representa-
tive of citizens in a global arena with global problems that
ignore borders and nations. Nationalism sometimes seems to
be an answer to bring the individual back to an awareness of
theimportanceofthenation.However,itisglobalizationthat
27) Plan fromtouritalynow.com(retrieved2016,August25).
28) See: ElviaWilkUncubemagazine,22July2015.
29) ElviaWilk,op.cit.22July2015.

12
forces national governments to reconsider nationalist educa-
tional goals. Mass labor migration, inevitably, undercuts the
culturalunityofthenationstateanyway.30
Economicglobali-
zation, transnational terrorism, global warming, these are all
problemsthatareclearlybeyondthepoweroftheoldorderof
nation-states. Nation-state politics can only fail the problems
ofthe modern world.31
The question arises then: what could be the message for
Expostaging nation-states fromnowon?
The Convention Relating to International Exhibitions of
1928 will not readily be readjusted and perhaps that is also
not necessary as it clearly speaks of states and not nation-
states.Indeed,thedeclineofthenation-stateisreallyadecline
of the specifically national content of the state.32
As Milano
illustrates, expo producers are in the frontline to address such
problems and to invent new ways of staging expos, while
perfectly fitting in the parameters of the Convention. The
question ‘do we need world expos?’ is therefore not relevant.
Ratherexposneedtobefundamentallyamendedtoserveasa
most eminent tool to experiment with reinventing the world,
inventing new cosmopolitanism, where meaningful models
ofglobalcitizenship can possiblyemerge.
Progress in human endeavor:
sustainability
Consumerism has been criticized as not only destroying
psychological well-being and individuality, but also irre-
sponsibly exploiting the irreplaceable resources of mother
earth.33
Can it be asserted that consumerism is a ‘need of
civilization’,or ‘progressachievedinhumanendeavour’,fol-
lowing the phraseology of the Convention? Does it show a
durable prospect for the future? Obviously not. Civilization
is in need of another human endeavor.Any human endeavor
isofcoursenormative,equallynormativeastheslogan‘need
of civilizaton’ is. With the historically inevitable collapse of
the nation-state, global citizenship comes in as a human en-
deavour towards progress in civilization. It is expressed in
global coalitions coming together under ethical or lifestyle
ideals; the global citizen denounces consumerism and strives
for sustainability, and that is exactly the human endeavor
that is most urgently needed for civilization. “Preventing the
collapse of human civilization requires nothing less than a
wholesale transformation of dominant cultural patterns. This
transformation would reject consumerism... and establish in
itsplaceanewculturalframeworkcenteredonsustainability”
toquoteWorldwatch.34
30)Seerespectively:OhmaeKen'ichiTheEndoftheNationState-TheRiseofRegionalEconomies1995;DarrenJ.O'ByrneTheDimensionsof
GlobalCitizenship2003;JoelSpringHowEducationalIdeologiesareshapingGlobalSociety,2004.
31)‘The separationofstateandnationrepresentstheappropriateresponse...’TheGuardian 2008,January15,UlrichBeck.
32) Ulrich Beck, op.cit. who continues: “The answer to such global problems that are gathering ominously all around and that refuse to yield
to nation-state solutions is for politics to take a quantum leap from the nation-state system to the cosmopolitan state system. In such a system
different ethnic, religious and political forms of life across national borders should come together in a cosmopolitan understanding based on
tolerance.Politicsneedstoregaincredibilityinordertocraftrealsolutions.”
33)Isaksen,KatjaConsumerCulture,BrandingandBritishAdolescents:AViciousCycle?TheUniversityofManchester,2010,referringamong
otherstoKasser,T.andRyan,R.M.(1993),“AdarksideoftheAmericandream”JournalofPersonalityandSocialPsychology,65(2),410-
422.Onthedestructiveimpactofconsumingresourcesonourlivingenvironmentseeforexample:MillenniumEcosystemAssessment,2005.
EcosystemsandHumanWell-being:Synthesis.IslandPress,Washington,DC.
34)WorldwatchInstitute"StateoftheWorld2010".Also:"Makingpolicyandtechnologychangeswhilekeepingculturescenteredonconsumer-
ismandgrowthcanonlygosofar.Tothrivelongintothefuture,humansocietiesmustshifttheircultures,sosustainabilitybecomesthenorm."

13
The lesson of the above pages to take home is the critique
on irresponsible political decision making, empty spectacle
and consumerism, loss of autonomy of the individual, and
the necessity of having sustainability as a cultural narrative,
a theme that brings states globally and durably together, for
manygenerationstocome.Butthenthechoiceofsiteandthe
scenarios for staging should be fundamentally inserted into
what society, locality, the region, and the landscape system
have to offer and can offer. Simply staging an expo as a one-
time only, one-sided investment inserted into a non-relevant
context of locality and society only increases irresponsible
behaviour and leaves disasterbehind.
Credible Expo Studies
It seems that we are on a steady track to solidify a field of
Expo Studies.35
That is a good thing, but if Expo Studies is
to contribute fundamentally, we need a more comprehensive
world view that underlies our theories and methodologies.
Therefore, we researchers need to be, and need to remain,
critical towards the role and functioning of nation-states, of
geopolitical power, of consumerism; we need to be aware of
possiblydestructiveandpossiblyconstructivecomponentsin
expo staging and be critical about both. Only then is it pos-
sible todevelop aproper ExpoStudiesparadigm.
What could be the next step should be left to imaginative,
idealistdesigners,architects,andartists.Andtheytooarebet-
ter off when they depart from a solid foundation of critical
research. If not, thereis no crediblefutureforWorldExpos.
WybeKuitert,May4,2017
35) “Expo studies” a term coined by Randal Rogers, pointing among many other things to the necessity of getting rid of the dominance of the
nation-stateinExpoStudies,op.cit.,p.38-39.

14
References:
AsianDevelopmentBankCountryPartnershipStrategy:Kazakhstan2012–2016
Beck, Ulrich ‘The separation of state and nation represents the appropriate response’...The Guardian (newspaper article) 2008,
January15
Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) Convention Relating to International Exhibitions, signed in Paris on November 22nd
,
1928with supplementsof1948,1966,1972,1982,and1988
Clayton,Rev. George,[Three]SermonsontheGreatExhibition.London:BenjaminLGreen,(1851),pp.25-35
Herzog& deMeuronMilanoExpo2015websiteoftheofficeofthearchitects,2014(retrieved2016,October28)
Hobsbawm, EricandTerenceRangerTheInventionoftradition,Cambridge[1983], 2000
Huart,Louis M,Physiologieduflâneur(vignettesdeMM.Alophe,DaumieretMaurisset)AubertetCie,Lavigne,Paris,1841
Isaksen,KatjaConsumer Culture,BrandingandBritishAdolescents:AViciousCycle?TheUniversityofManchester,2010
Kasser, T. and Ryan, R. M. (1993), “Adark side of theAmerican dream” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65(2),
410-422
KoreaHerald, (newspaper article)2012-08-09‘YeosuExpotocompletethree-monthrunSunday’
TheKorea Herald (TheInvestor),(newspaperarticle)2016-09-07‘Koreatolimitgov’tfundsforint’levents’
KoreaTimes, (newspaper article)2012-08-12:‘YeosuExpocomestoendafterthreemonthsofmediocrity’
KoreaTimes, (newspaper article)2012-10-29:‘EmbezzlementinYeosu’
MillenniumEcosystemAssessment.EcosystemsandHumanWell-being:Synthesis.IslandPress,Washington,DC, 2005
Namhaean Sinmun, (newspaperarticle)2013-09-03‘DecliningpopulationofYeosuaftertheExpo’(inKorean)
O'Byrne, Darren J., The Dimensions of Global Citizenship 2003 Official ground plan;Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition, Seattle.
June, 1– Oct,16,1909
Ohmae Ken'ichiTheEnd oftheNationState-TheRiseofRegionalEconomies1995
Rogers,Randal,From thePaintedPasttoDigitalFuturesLibraryandArchivesCanada,Quebec2004
Martin Sieff, Martin ‘Astana EXPO 2017 The World Comes to Kazakhstan’Edgekz Trending Kazakhstan News (newspaper
article) November2012
Silverman,DeboraL.,'The1889Exhibition:Thecrisisofbourgeoisindividualism'Oppositions,AJournalforIdeasandCriticism
inArchitecture(Spring1977)p.71-91
Spring,JoelHowEducationalIdeologiesareshapingGlobalSociety,2004
Tafuri,Manfredo,ArchitectureandUtopia,DesignandCapitalistDevelopmentMITPress 1975
Wilk,Elvia‘Milano Expo2015’Uncubemagazine,22July2015
Worldwatch Institute"StateoftheWorld2010"

15
JES 60 [이슈] Expo as a commercial trade fair: global art history of paper and leather craft On World Expos and EastAsia
Expo as a commercial trade fair:
global art history
of paper and leather craft
UKAIAtsuko 1
Introduction
Thisarticleexploresoneofthemostfundamentalattributes
in Japanese art history: japonism.23
Born out of the need to
classify “Japanese Art” as a categorized art, framing Japon-
ism enabled art historians to label the unfamiliar and place
it within the known universe. Yet, this seemingly helpful
condition has also created a gridlock in the construction of
modern knowledge, because art historians seem only to be
able to operate within the matrix of established categories
and their parameters. Expos, used for purposes of promoting
consumerism, provide an excellent lense through which the
framing of Japanese art objects can be studied in detail. This
papertunesintokinkarakamianddemonstrateshowitcircu-
lated in the world, leading to an analysis that proposes a new
way to look at world, or global art history. Kinkarakami is
gilded and embossed paper (kami) that was manufactured in
Japan in the19th century about two centuries after the arrival
of kinkarakawa: gilded, embossed leather (kawa) in the 17th
century. This kinkarakami paper was exposed at the Vienna
World Exposition in 1873, then won the ﬁrst prize as an imi-
tationleatherpaperatExpositionUniverselle,heldinParisin
1900.After having been on show in the 1893World Exhibi-
tion in Chicago (Fig.1), this paper was exported to Europe
fromJapanasawallpaperinlargequantities.
1)AtsukoUKAI,InstituteforAdvancedStudiesonAsia,UniversityofTokyo,e-mailaddress:atsukoukai@ioc.u-tokyo.ac.jp.Thisworkwassup-
portedbyaGrant-in-AidforJapanSocietyforthePromotionofScienceFellows;thepaperisbasedonmyoralpresentationattheInternational
symposiumExpoLandscapeatSeoulNationalUniversity,GraduateSchoolof EnvironmentalStudies.
2)These booksarefoundintheancientrarebookCollectionoftheNancyMunicipalLibraryinFrance
3)The French term Japonisme, in English Japonism, dates back to 1872, when it was used for the ﬁrst time in an article by the art critic Philippe
Burty(1830-90)thatwaspublishedinthemagazineLarenaissancelittéraireetartistique.PhilippeBurty,“Japonisme,”Renaissancelittéraire
et artistique, May 1872-Feb 1873. Philippe Burty published a series of seven articles under the title “Japonisme” over the course of one year.
Oher similar terms were already in use—and continue to be used today—terms such as “Japonaiserie” and “Japonerie”, the Japanese equiva-
lents of“Chinoiserie”or“penchantforChina”,and“Japonisant”,meaningJapanophile.

16
On World Expos and EastAsia[이슈] Expo as a commercial trade fair: global art history of paper and leather craftJES 60
Departing from a case study of several book bindings pro-
duced in France that are done with kinkarakami, this paper
illustrates how such a technique for producing gilded leather
was imported from Europe to Japan in the early 17th
century,
and then exported back to France. This case study on how
an expo could function as a place of trade fairs confirms that
movements and techniques in arts did not travel unidirec-
tional,andthereforeraisethequestionofhowtosuggestnew
transnationaldescriptions forarthistory.
Japonism boom
in 19th
century Exhibitions
In France, as well as in Japan, the term Japonism has be-
comewidelyusedoverthepasttwentyyears.Japonismstud-
ies4
have been conducted mainly by Japanese researchers
specializing in occidental art history and French researchers
specializing in Japanese art. The term ‘Japonism’ first ap-
peared in Japanese dictionary of 1993 with the definition,
“PenchantforJapan.Especiallyusedinregardtoitemspopu-
larizedinnineteenth-centuryFrancethroughtheinfluxofuki-
yo-eandexhibitionsattheParisUniversalExpositions.Itsin-
fluencewasparticularlypervasivetheimpressionistandother
art circles.”5
It is known that Japanese works were displayed
at the 1853 World Exposition in NewYork and in the Dutch
exhibition space at the 1855 Paris Universal Exposition be-
fore the first official participation of Japanese in 1867.6
The
phenomenon of Japonism in art history manifested itself in a
devotion to things Japanese, in a Japanese-style, which took
hold from the time of the aforementioned influx of artistic
craftsfromJapan.LaJaponaise(1875),apaintingbyClaude
Monet shown at the second group show of the Impressionist
painters in 1876, depicts the artist's wife adorned in an elabo-
rate kimono and standing on a floor covered with decorative
Japanesestrawmatsagainstawalldecoratedwithpaperfans.
Figure 1. Exhibition of the Japanese Leather at the World's Columbian Exposition, 1893 Chicago. Collection NOMURACo. Ltd., Japan.
4)InJapan,mainstreamresearchconductedthusfarintothehistoryofJapaneseandFrencharthasbeenbasedonthestudyofWesternarthistory;
as such, a considerable amount of research has addressed “the influence ofWestern art on Japan”. From this, the study of Japonism came into
the world as a way to explore the converse influence of Japan. However, this new twist actually represents nothing more than a change in the
directionofthe“influence”.Attherootofthesedisciplines,thedichotomyof“here” and“there”,orEastandWest,hasnotchanged.
5) JapanesedictionaryKoji-en,4th
edition,Iwanami,1991,p.1200
6) Goncourt brothers, avid collectors of Far Eastern art, claimed their place as early Japonisants in 1861 as they documented their acquisition of
Japaneseprintsinaprivatejournal.

17
The extent of the phenomenon is exemplified by the fact that
Vincent van Gogh decorated his studio with ukiyo-e prints
and produced an oil painting of a Japanese oiran courtesan
(1887). The Japonism phenomenona was therefore present
incirclesofimpressionistpaintersandotherartistslikeÉmile
Gallé, whose glassware won several prices in universal Ex-
pos,oradesignerlikeFelixBracquemond(Fig.2and3).7
7)FrançoisEugèneRousseau(1827-90),asellerandmanufacturerofceramicsandglassware,commissionedtheprintmakerFelixBracquemond
(1833-1914) to design his next tableware set. Bracquemond has been credited for being the first to discover the Hokusai Manga in 1856,
when he received Japanese ceramics packed in the actual prints. Bracquemond’s Service Rousseau, a tableware set produced in the 1860s
using Hokusai and Hiroshige prints as motifs, gained popularity and became known as ‘Service Japonais’. After its initial exhibition at the
1867UniversalExpositioninParis,thesetoftablewaremadefurtherappearancesatthe1878and1889ParisExpositions,andcontinuedtobe
produceduntilthe1930s.In1988,theMuséed’OrsayheldanexhibitionoftheServiceRousseaualongwithotherworksfromitscollection.In
Japan the ServiceRousseaubelongingtothe MuséeNationalAdrienDubouchécollectionwasdisplayedatthe1998JaponisminDecorative
Artsexhibition,heldattheTokyoMetropolitanTeienArtMuseumandotherlocations.Inaddition,thesetoftablewarebelongingtotheMusée
d’OrsayhasrecentlybeenondisplayattheFranceMeetsJapan:Ukiyo-eInfluenceonFrenchCeramicsexhibitionheldattheTokyoNational
Museumin2008.ThisexhibitfeaturedtheServiceRousseaualongwiththeoriginalprintsuponwhichitsdesignswerebased,therebymaking
cleartheincontestablefactthatthesourceofitsdesignwasderivedfromJapaneseworksofart.Thesearchforthesourcesofthesedesignswas
carried out by Ikegami Chūji. In his essay, “Copperplate Etchings by Felix Bracquemond Derived from the Works of Hokusai Manga and
Hiroshige’s Designs of Fish”, Ikegami points out one by one the relation of Bracquemond’s etchings to works from both the Hokusai Manga
and Hiroshige’s Designs of Fish.This Service Rousseau borrowed from the Musée des art décoratif de Paris was displayed at the Shanghai
World Expoin2010.
Figure 2. Glass work by Emile Gallé that won a prize at Univer-
sal Exposition 1878, with Hokusai Manga motif, displayed at the
Shanghai World Expo in 2010. Photo by author.
Figure 3. Service Rousseau with the motif of Hokusai Manga by
Bracquemond, displayed at the Shanghai World Expo in 2010.
Photo by author.

18
The limitations
of categorizing art
In spring 2005, two books of Louis Gonse’s work Japa-
neseArtwereacquiredfor46,000eurosbytheÉcoledeNan-
cy museum in France. The design of these books’ bindings,
exhibited at Salon de la Société Nationale des Beaux-arts,
Champ de Mars in 1893, were inspired by Japanese ukiyoe
prints,thereforetheyhavebeenexaminedbyFrenchandJap-
anese resarchers as an example of Japonism. Japonism: the
influence of “Japanese art” on “Western art”, is considered a
phenomenonthataffectedartistsandcriticsduringthesecond
halfofthe19thcentury.Thestudyofjaponismisbasedonthe
identification of the “Japanese motif” or “Japaneseness” in
Westernart.Althoughonemaytakesuchlabelingforgranted,
inevitablythequestionareseswhattheframeworkconstitutes
forwhatwebelievetobe“JapaneseArt”.Orshorter:whydo
we have to categorize art? Conventional art history has tend-
ed to describe terms of progressive development of art from
past into present within the confines of various frameworks,
based on ethnic, national, geographical, or other constructed
categories. The problem with established study of art history
istheexistenceofclassificationsthatdivideartintocategories
according to national boundaries, such as “Japanese Art” or
“ItalianRenaissanceArt”oraccordingtofictivegeographical
categories, such as “Western Art History” and “Eastern Art
History” or even according to ethnic or regional categories,
such as “OrientalArt,” “InuitArt”, or “AfricanArt.” Having
applied labels to art in this way, conventional art history has
been able to explore cross-cultural exchange or cultural simi-
larities and differences as seen in“ChineseArt” and “Korean
Art” for example; this has further given rise to the existence
of such research that makes assertions on how much “Ja-
pan” has influenced “the West,” as is the case with research
on the Japonism Movement that took place mainly in Japan
and France. Can’t we describe art history without using these
kindsofpredefinedcategoriesoremphasizingsuchcompara-
tivedifferences?
One of the problems arising from the fact that “art” itself
has been defined from a Western historical perspective. This
is because conventional art history focused mainly on two
categories: paintings and sculptures, so-called “fine arts”.
Only the “preserved art” of countries and communities is
used for such comparative art studies further confirming the
narrowness and limitations of definitions of art. To have an
more realistic overview over art history, it is important to ex-
amine not only the works that have been collected and dis-
played as “art”, but also include applied arts such as ceramic,
furniture, glassware, handicrafts and all other manners and
modesofvisualart.
Japanese leather and paper
exhibited in expos
The book bindings exhibited at Salon de la Société Na-
tionale des Beaux-arts in 1893 were created by three artists,
Camille Martin,Victor Prouvé and René Wiener. Among
these three artists from Nancy, let us focus on the activities
ofRenéWiener(1855-1939),whoactuallyboundthebooks.
In 1879, he took over his grandfather’s book and paper shop
and turned the window into a gallery for artists. His father,
Lucien Wiener (1828-1909), was curator of the Musée Lor-
rain, and it is a well-known fact that most of René Wiener’s
collection was donated to this Museum after his death. The
documentsshownheredonotcomefromtheMuséeLorrain
but from Nancy’s municipal library.After an examination of
his work in this library, I discovered books featuring oriental
or Japanese style bindings made by RenéWiener (Figures 4,
5,and6).Whatisimportanttonoticeisthatthematerialsused
for these covers were paper or leather imported from Japan.
The“leather”usedforthiskindofcraftiscalled“himekawa”
and“kinkarakami”.

19
Figure 4. Himekawa book binding. Nancy municipal library; Collection NOMURACo. Ltd., Japan.
Figure 5. Les Pierrot Fantaisie en vers de MELANDERI. Nancy municipal library; photo by author.
Figure 6. Cover of 20 jours en Espagne by Claude Vignon. Nancy municipal library; photo by author

20
The paper used for the inside cover is called “chiyogami”.
Chiyogamiisatypeofpaperusedforcolourprintingofforms
and motifs that have been carved on woodblocks (Fig 7).
“Chiyo”means“alongperiod”or“athousandyears”andthe
most commonly used motifs for its decoration are the pine
tree,bamboo,plumtree,craneandtortoise,becausetheseele-
ments are all symbols of longevity. At the beginning of the
Edo period, chiyogami was made by the masters of ukiyo-
e themselves. Later it was used to make doll’s kimonos, the
inside of small boxes and as wrapping paper. At the Musée
Lorrain, in René Wiener’s collection, I found two types of
chiyogami. René Wiener acquired chiyogami designed for
the purpose of covering the inside of book bindings (Fig 8).
Amongst the book bindings made by René Wiener, several
covershavealsobeenmadeoutofJapanesematerials.
Figure 7. Inside of the cover of Japoneries d’automne by Pierre Loti. Nancy municipal library; photo by author.
Figure 8. Japanese paper Chiyogami. Lorraine History Museum (collection of René Wiener). Photo by author.

21
We can find himekawa printed with insects and made in
Harima, present-day Himeji. After the 1893 World Exhibi-
tion in Chicago, this type of paper was exported to Europe
in large quantities. It is interesting to know that other types of
leather-likebindingsareactuallymadewithpaperthathasthe
appearance of Japanese leather. The Japanese invented this
paper after the introduction of gilded leather techniques from
Europe. In Western European palaces and mansions, leather
was used instead of wallpaper because it was more resist-
ant to the damage caused by insects. During the Edo period,
the Dutch introduced this leather wallpaper in Japan. Since
gilded leather imported from Europe was expensive, it was
usedonlytocoversmallerobjects,suchassnuffboxes,horse
saddles and sword sheaths. During the same period, a new
technique, by which colour could be added onto the leather
appeared.Itgavebirthtokinkarakawa,whichcanbeliterally
translatedas“Chinesegildedleather”inthiscontexttheword
“Chinese”hasthemeaningof“aforeigncountry”.InJapan,a
country of highly skilled paper makers, the technique needed
to make kinkarakawa gave birth to kinkarakami, which can
be literally translated as “gilded leather paper”. Kinkarakami
ismadebyfirstapplyingsilverleafontoJapanesepaper.This
paper is then placed between two sheets of wood on which
motifs have been carved in order to create an embossment.
Theresultingluxuriousembossedpaper,verysimilartoleath-
er in appearance was shown at the Vienna World Exhibition
on 1873 and later exported to Europe as wallpaper. It was
awardedafirstprizeattheParisExhibitionin1900,asoneof
the best imitations of leather using paper.After visiting Japan
withÉmileGuimetin1876,FélixRégameyreturnedin1899
to study Japanese education in the field of the arts.8
Some of
thedrawingsheproducedduringthistripshowthemakingof
kinkarakami.After visiting a factory, Régamey talked of the
“artisticindustryofJapan”.(Fig9and10).
Figure 9. The cover of Le Japon en Images by Félix Régamey
8) Lyon-born industrialist Émile Guimet (1836-1918) and illustrator Felix Régamey (1844-1907) traveled to Japan and later, in 1879, opened a
museumofEasternartinLyoncenteringontheBuddhistartworksGuimethadcollected.ThismuseumwassubsequentlymovedtoParisand
inauguratedastheMuséenationaldesArtsasiatiques-Guimet,ortheGuimetMuseum,in1889.

22
We may conclude, therefore, that René Wiener used Japa-
nese materials such as himekawa, kinkarakami and chiyo-
gami to make his bindings.As kinkarakami is the result of a
technique used to make European gilded leather, but applied
to Japanese paper, it was considered a “traditional Japanese
industrial product”. Gilded leather imported by Japan from
Europe and gilded paper imported by Europe from Japan
were used to make small personal items. This shows that the
use of a foreign material to personalize everyday items was
a universal trend. The bound books kept at the municipal li-
brary in Nancy stand out as a particular example of crafts-
manshipmadewithmaterialsimportedfromJapan.Theyare
by nature completely different to the type of bindings bought
bytheMuseumof theÉcoledeNancy.
Towards a transnational,
global art history
The following question should be posed: can the bindings
by René Wiener found in Nancy’s municipal library an ex-
ample of Japonism?The simple act of appreciating Japanese
art,orcollectingit,isnotconsideredtobeJaponism,butrath-
er manifests a taste for japonaiseries. Japonism is considered
tobeaphenomenonthataffectedartistsandcriticsduringthe
second half of the nineteenth century.The study of Japonism
is based on the identification of “Japanese style” motifs or on
theappraisalofJapanese“aesthetics”throughaninfluenceof
JapanonWesternart.However,thebookbindingsintroduced
heretestifytotheborrowingofanartculturefromJapaninan
even more concrete manner than that of aesthetics since the
materials themselves were imported from Japan. The books
from the Nancy municipal library are neither copies of Japa-
nese paintings taken for reference, nor works of art designed
to be exhibited as typical examples of Japanese motifs. They
are simply books that passed through the hands of various
people, and illustrate the use of traditional European tech-
niques applied to Japanese materials. The existence of these
bindings shows that through the applied arts, devotion to
“thingsJapanese”reachedamuchwiderpublicthroughitems
for everyday use. If one wants to call this Japonism, then this
Figure 10. Kinkarakami factory illustrated by Félix Régamey in Le Japon en Images

23
type of Japonism is not one of “fine art” but of crafts. There-
fore it embodies a more popular dimension of Japonism than
the one we are used to. The interesting point in this particu-
lar example is that it is a manifestation of a cross influence,
rather than the unidirectional influence of Japan on the West.
One may even value it as fusion between two cultures. We
could say that the desire for and the use of foreign materials
in the personalisation of everyday items such as snuff boxes
in Japan and book bindings in France is universal. If we look
at the bindings kept in Nancy, without confining ourselves
strictly to the realm of Japonism, they can be considered as
an illustration of worldwide cultural interaction. Leather craft
was created in the fourteenth century in the northernAfrican
town of Gadamis, and introduced to Europe through Spain.
It then developed during the sixteenth and seventeenth cen-
turies. Portugal, Italy, France, Belgium and the Netherlands
startedproducingleathertouseitasdecorativewallcovering.
This leather was introduced in Japan during the seventeenth
century and used in the crafting of household goods such as
snuff boxes and sword sheaths. In due time, leather craft was
applied in Japan to paper, giving birth to kinkarakami-gilded
leatherpaper,whichwasinitsturnintroducedtoEuropedur-
ing the nineteenth century. This paper was used in Europe
as a new kind of decorative wallpaper, but also as binding
paper, an entirely new form of art. Considered as such, it is
possible to extend the topics of artistic, technological and
cultural interactions beyond the boundaries of comparative
cultural studies. The bindings of Nancy’s municipal library
have proved to be a necessary step in the study of Japonism
asaphenomenonandalsoasafieldofstudy.
Conclusion
Expos were a battle field of commerce, showing a devel-
opment of technology and new materials, but they also fea-
turedasshowwindows,astradefair,expandingfashionslike
Japonism,orpropagatingmaterialslikekinkarakamithrough
the latter half of the 19th into the 20th century. Reflecting on
this battle field, departing from pavilions categorized after
nation, expo history was discussed along lines of division as
nation-based histories, like the usual approach in art history.
As it is nations gathering for the fair, it should be a subject
of research how expos created relations between countries,
states, or nations, and how relations were created through ex-
Figure 11. Entrance of Japan’s arts & crafts pavilion at Louisiana Purchase Exposition, Expo 1904. Photo NOMURACo. Ltd., Japan

24
pos.9
Focusing on materials circulating from expo to expo,
the above case study demonstrates that history can be rewrit-
ten as another transnational history that does not depend on
pre-deﬁned descriptions or existingworldviews.
9)Ofcoursethisdoesnotmeanthatanation’sEposinthe19thcenturycontributedconsiderablytotheformationofthenotionof“NationState”;
see: Sano, ‘M. Banpaku no hito: Rutherford Alcock’ and Teramoto, N. ‘1878nen Pari Bankoku Hakurankai ni okeru Maeda Masana no
yakuwari’ in Banpaku to Ningen no rekishi, Shibunkaku Shuppan, 2015, pp.21-52, resp. pp.73-102; that demonstrate the important role of
exhibition organizers. See also the next chapter ‘Struggle of a non-European country in the World Expositions: the case of Japan’, by Noriko
Teramoto.

25
[이슈] Struggle of a non European country in the World Fairs: the case of JapanJES 60 On World Expos and EastAsia
Struggle of a non European
country in the World Fairs:
the case of Japan
In the nineteenth century,World Expositions played a ma-
jor role not only as an exhibition and for advertising objects,
but also in the formation of cultural images of nations. At a
World Exposition, the intention of the host country arises in
thefirstplacefromthelayoutofparticipantsfromeachcoun-
try,fromtheclassificationofobjects,andsoforth.Withinsuch
allocationand categorization,imagesofnationswereformed
not only through intentions of the host, but also through that
oftheparticipants themselveswhotookanactiverole.
This presentation focuses on the case of a non-European
country, Japan, to examine how the characteristics of Japan
emerged to lead to the phenomenon of the so-called ‘Japon-
ism’ in France and other European countries in the second
halfof19th century.
After the opening of the country in 1853, Japan began
to participate in World Expositions in the 1860s. Ernest
Chesneau, a French art critic in the nineteenth century, said
“in 1867, the World Exposition has completely placed Ja-
pan into fashion”2
. In 1867, Japan officially participated in
theParisWorldExpositionforthefirsttime3
.However,atthe
very moment of this first participation, Japan did not receive
specificattention.
It is necessary to consider Japan’s relationship with other
Asiancountries,andinturntheAsiancountries’relationwith
Europe and other regions. Although this World Exposition
of 1867 marked the beginning of ‘Japonism’, Japan was not
distinguished from otherAsian countries. In other words, Ja-
pan’s image in the wider world was ambiguous and buried
in a monotone image ofAsia. For example, at the exposition
site, the section of Japan was shared with China and Thai-
TERAMOTO Noriko 1
1) NorikoTERAMOTO,FacultyofLetters,DepartementofHumanities,AtomiUniversity,e-mailaddress:norikoteramoto.fr@gmail.com
2) Ernest Chesneau,«Expositionuniverselle,LeJaponàParis»,GazettedesBeaux-Arts,vol.18,novembre1878,pp. 841-856.
3)FromthefirstWorldexpositioninLondon1851andinParis1855,theJapanesearticleswerepresentedamongtheexhibitionofChinaandthe
Netherlands.AttheLondonWorldexpositionin1862,theexhibitionofJapanwaspreparedbyRutherfordAlcock,thefirstBritishdiplomatic
representativeinJapan.

26
On World Expos and EastAsiaJES 60 [이슈] Struggle of a non European country in the World Fairs: the case of Japan
land.AFrench architect,Alfred Chapon designed the display
of these threeAsian countries.When we look at all these dis-
plays, we ﬁnd that the decorative façade is almost the same
andwecannotidentifywhichisJapanandwhichisChina,or
Thailand (Fig 1).AFrench newspaper said that the Japanese
objectswereconfusedwiththisneighborhood.
Figure 1. The exhibition of Japan(left) and China(right). Le Monde illustré, 12 October 1867.
Figure 2. The Park of Champs de Mars (the area ofAsia). LaCommissionimpériale,Rapportsurl’Expositionuniversellede1867,àParis,Paris,1869.

27
Anotherexampleisseenintheparkareawhichsurrounded
the main hall. In this park each country constructed its pavil-
ion. Again, the Japanese pavilion was placed next to China
andThailand(Fig2).IntheofficialPhotoalbumoftheexpo-
sition, we find a photography of a canoe, which is attributed
to Japan; but in fact, what is strange and a little bit sad for
Japanese side, it was not a Japanese one but that of Thailand
(Fig3)!FromtheseJapaneseexhibitions,wefindclearlythat
French people did not and could not really distinguish Japan
from other Asian countries. Such confusion reflects the un-
certaintyinimagesofAsia,typicaltotheperceptionbyWest-
ernpeople.
The interesting question is then: how was Japan made
to be distinguished from other Asian countries, leading to a
distinct “Japonism” movement in the end? It was because of
the awarding ceremony of the World Exposition that Japan
becamenoticed.Japanwasawardedagrandprix,thehighest
prize, which was not the case for China and Thailand. Then,
how was that difference in evaluation made? We can’t ex-
plain it neither by artistic quality of Japanese products nor by
specific exotic interests of French people. It is important to
point out that - at the beginning of the Japonism movement -
there were two contributing factors reflecting international or
globalrelationshipsamongthesecountries.
The first factor was China. Though Japan was at first not
distinguished from other Asian countries, it was through
comparison to China that French people gradually recog-
nized a distinctively different Japan. In the Eighteenth cen-
tury, Chinese ceramics had been praised in Europe and this
led to the movement of Chinoiserie. Although Japanese ob-
jects also circulated in the eighteenth century, ‘Japonism’ did
not occur, as it was seen within frames of the Chinoiserie. In
the nineteenth century though, political circumstances gen-
erated different recognitions for China and for Japan. In the
World Exposition in 1867, Japan was highly praised for its
officialandactiveparticipationinadditiontotheoriginalityof
its art and crafts, while China was criticized for not officially
participating in the exposition, while its art and crafts repro-
ducedpastmodelsonly,itwasfelt.Furthermore,theChinese
themselves had not prepared their own exhibit; rather it was
done by Europeans, led by Robert Hart, a British diplomat
who served as the inspector general of China’s Custom Ser-
vice. Throughout the nineteenth century, it was politically
impossible for China to participate in the exposition due to
the devastation of the country after the Opium war and the
Figure 3. The canoe exhibited by Thailand. M.A. Gréhan, Le Royaume de Siam, 2e ed., Paris, 1868, p. 75.

28
Figure 4. “Napoléon III received the sovereigns who visited the World exposition”, 1867. Exotiques Expositions,Archives Nationales, Paris,
2010, p. 113.
following colonization by theWestern countries. On the con-
trary, the Japanese participation intended to aﬃrm politically
its ‘independence’. That is why the Tokugawa government
sent a younger brother of the Shogun, Akitake Tokugawa, a
13 years old boy, as a representative of Japan. It was impor-
tantfortheshogun’sgovernment,theBakufu,todemonstrate
its sovereignty towards European nations. However, already
the next year, in 1868, after the Restoration of Meiji, a new
government was born. Such political contexts were played
out openly showing that World Expositions were a place for
developing diplomaticrelationships(Fig4).
The second major factor was the economic situation in
France and Europe. Bourgeois people, even if they played
an important role in the mass society of the third Republique,
were not the supporters of Japonism. In the Second Empire’s
context of the promotion of industrial arts, there was a very
speciﬁc, economical demand to supersede England. To this
end, France was seeking development of its industrial arts;
thatistosay,theFrenchgovernmentandIndustriessoughtto
include artistic taste into strategies of fabrication to improve
the quality of their goods. France tried to make use of artistic
advantage.TheUnionofIndustrialArttooktheinitiative,and
thecriticsofartsfromthisUnioninsistedontheneedtolearn
from the Japanese style: they insisted that the motifs of ‘na-
ture’, like those in Japanese arts, would help making French
product much more artistic and valuable. It was these propo-
nentsofindustrialart,rivalingotherEuropeancountries,who
raisedJaponismtothetopaftertheWorldExpositionof1867.
Two factors, therefore, generated interest in Japonism: in-
dustrialartmovementsinFranceandthepromotionofindus-
tries of the Meiji government.At the same time, we must not
forget the demand from the Japanese side as it occurred after
1867. After the restoration of Meiji of 1868, the new Meiji
government promoted the sales and export of Japanese prod-
uctsinWorldExpositions.
TheMeijigovernmentparticipatedtothenextParisWorld
Exposition of 1878 (Fig 5). In the 1870’s, Japonism estab-
lished a fashion in French society and to attract visitors, the
French commissioners highly expected the participation of
Japan. For example, when we look at the plan of the exposi-
tion, it is obvious that from the beginning the French com-
missioners distributed to Japan an independent site, much

29
Figure 5. The Japanese commissioners of the Paris World Exposition of 1878. Nagayama Sadatomi ed., Kaigai hakurankai honpo sando shiryo,
Vol. 2, Hakurankai club, 1928.
larger than that of 1867; while China, Thailand and other
Asian countries remained sharing one site.Another example
is seen in the park in front of the palaceTrocadero, where the
Japanese pavilion was placed at the center.At the former Ex-
position in 1867, Japan’s image was ambiguous and buried
in a monotone image ofAsia. However, this time Japan was
distinguished and stood out from otherAsian countries. Nev-
ertheless,politicalfactorsinthisexpoplayagainamajorrole.
DespitethehighdemandofFrance,theJapanesegovernment
hadalmostgivenuptakingpartinthisWorldExposition.Un-
der a severe domestic political situation, especially the Sat-
suma Rebellion (西南戦争), a civil war which occurred in
1877, the Japanese government could not advance any offi-
cial, centrally organized preparation. However, a remarkable
person, Masana Maeda, who studied in France, returned to
Japan to take the initiative for the preparation. Without the
effort of this young man Maeda, aged 27, Japan could not
haveappearedintheWorldExpositionof1878andJaponism
wouldhaveremainedaninsignificantphenomenon.
In theWorld Exposition of 1878, the French commission-
ers demanded this time that each country to design its own
façade, after which Maeda proposed plans for the Japanese
façade (Fig 6). The first plan was gorgeous and expensive
Figure 6. The first design by Maeda for the façade of Japan. Le Monde illustré, 25 November 1876.

30
Figure 7. The façade of Japan, realized in 1878. L’Illustration, 15 June 1878.
with a tower on the side, but was never realized because of
some ﬁnancial diﬃculties. A new more abbreviated façade
was constructed and was appraised by a French newspaper
forits ‘simplicity’.
TheimageofJapanthatMaedawantedtoshowtotheFrench
reflectsinthetwofacesofthecountry.Oneismodernity.Onleft
andrightsideoftheentranceoftheJapanesepavilion,therewere
amapofthecountryandamapofTokyo,bothshowingthenum-
ber of public offices, the educational institutions, and so on - all
administrativeinstitutionsmeanttoillustratethatJapanisadevel-
opedcountry(Fig7).Ontheotherhand,MaedashowedJapan’s
Figure 8. The fountain of Japan. S. de Vandières, L’Exposition universelle de 1878, Paris, 1879, p. 59.

31
tradition.Infrontofthefaçadeweretwofountainssuchaswecan
seeinJapanesetemples.Thesefountainsgainedgreatpopularity
as we see many engravings that illustrate the visitors waiting in
linetodrinkwaterinJapanesetraditionalway(Fig8).Itwasthis
combinationofthetwodifferentfacesofJapan,thatofamodern
country and of a traditional one, which Maeda tried to present at
thisexposition.
Japan mainly exhibited ceramics, copper ware, lacquer
ware, and silk. By the way, it was in this period that the word
japonisme was born in France.At first, the meaning was ‘the
study of Japanese ceramic’s decorations’4
. For ceramics,
only two countries, France and Japan, received a grand prix,
the highest prize. Although this honor gave to the Japanese
government a great satisfaction, we must realize that some
French critics criticized the Japanese ceramics of becoming
westernized under adecliningtradition.
In the official report of the Exposition of 1878, the French
government also warned Japan to avoid the commercialism
that made a decline of Japanese traditional taste. This com-
ment may be true. In 1870s, many Japanese manufacturing
plants were established to produce ceramics, copper wares,
and other commodities to meet the demand of the European
consumers. When we look at the trade in France, we real-
ize that imports of Japanese ceramics continued to expand.
Therefore,whereasin1867thedemandofFrance’sindustrial
art movement aligned with that of Japan, in 1878 the French
criticscriticizedthewesternizationoftheJapaneseefforts.
However that may be, French ceramic products were also
influenced by commercialism, and in hindsight Japonism
fashionplayedanactiveroleinthis.ThemanyFrenchceram-
icsinJapanesestylesthatweseeemerginginthe1870swere,
andwemaysaythatcontrarytosomeFrenchcritics,catering
to the consumer society that supported and expanded Japon-
isminJapanandFranceaswell.
Japan participated to the next major Paris World Exposi-
tionof1889(Fig9).Likeinearlierparticipations,Japanagain
exhibited mainly ceramics. However, Japan could not obtain
a grand prix this time. The French government continued to
commentthatJapanhadbecometoomodernizedandhadlost
itsoriginality.
Figure 9. The Japanese exhibition at the Paris World Exposition of 1889. L’Exposition de Paris (1889), Paris, 15 January 1889.
4) Pierre Larousse,GrandDictionnaireuniverselduXIXe
siècle,tome16, 1er
supplément,Paris,1878,p. 1003.

32
To overcome this evaluation from France, at the final Ex-
position of the 19th century, the Paris World Exposition of
1900, Japan published a book entitled The history of Japa-
nese art.5
Hayashi Tadamasa, secretary-general of the Japa-
nese bureau, made an effort to publish this book in French.
He became a well known art dealer after his arrival in Paris
in 1878. He had many wealthy and famous customers, like
Claude Monet and Edouard Goncourt. So by publishing this
Japanese art history book from Japanese side, the Japanese
commissioner secretary-general tried to show to the Euro-
pean people that Japan has its own history, originality while
continuing to respect traditions. This time, Japan put more
emphasisonthetraditionalandtheoriginalimagethanonthe
modernizedone(Fig10).
Evaluation of both global perspective and a country’s
specific terms are important when examining the historical
process of circulation of objects and the creation of images
of a nation. Global terms stand against the country’s specific
terms like specific historical, political, economic and other
conditions. Both these terms contributed to establish a phe-
nomenon,inourstudycase,thefashionofJaponism.
Figure 10. The Japanese exhibition at the Paris World Exposition of 1900. L’Exposition de Paris (1900), Tome 2, Paris, p.239
5) La CommissionimpérialeduJaponàl’ExpositionuniverselledeParis,1900, Histoiredel’ArtduJapon,Paris,MauricedeBrunoff,1900.

33
References
NorikoTeramoto,TheWorldExpositionsofParisandthebeginningofJaponism,Shibunkaku,2017(forthcoming)
NorikoTeramoto,“1867nenParisBankokuhakurankainiokeruNihon(JapanattheParisWorldExpositionof1867”,Nichi-futsu
RekishiGakkaiKaiho,no.28,2013,pp.3-19.
NorikoTeramoto, “1867nen Paris Bankokuhakurankai to Japonism (The ParisWorld Exposition of 1867and the Japonism)” in
ChikashiKitazakied.,ParisI,Takeshobo,2014,pp.108-128.
NorikoTeramoto, “1878nen Paris Bankokuhakurankai ni okeru Maeda Masana noYakuwari (The role of Maeda Masana at the
ParisWorld Expositionof1878”inMayukoSanoed.,BankokuhakurankaitoNingennoRekishi,Shibunkaku,2015.
LaCommission impériale,Expositionuniversellede1867àParis:Cataloguegénéral,Paris,E.Dentu,1867,pp. 73-102.
La Commission impériale (rédacteur en chef, Fr. Ducuing), L’Exposition universelle de 1867 : illustrée, 2 volumes, Paris,
Administration,1867.
Michel Chevalier (dir.), Exposition universelle de 1867 à Paris. Rapports du Jury international, 13 vols, Paris, Imprimerie
administrativedePaulDupont,1868.
LaCommission impériale,Rapportsurl'Expositionuniversellede1867,àParis,Paris,Imprimerieimpériale,1869.
La Commission impériale du Japon, Le Japon à L’Exposition universelle de 1878, Première Partie: Géographie et histoire du
Japon, Paris, 1878.
La Commission impériale du Japon, Le Japon à L’Exposition universelle de 1878, Deuxième Partie : Art, éducation et
enseignement, industrie,productions,agricultureethorticulture,Paris,1878.
L’Exposition deParis (1889),2volumes,Paris,Librairieillustrée,1889.
L'Exposition deParis de1900:encyclopédiedusiècle,3volumes,Paris,LibrairieillustréeMongrédien&Cie,1898-1900.

34
JES 60 On World Expos and EastAsia[이슈] Long-term trend of industrial displays, awards & pavilions
Long-term trend
of industrial displays,
awards & pavilions
1 World Exposition:
a polyhedron reflecting
societies
WorldExpositionslooklikeapolyhedronreflectingallthe
aspects of modern and contemporary society, as their history
shows2
. Expos served a number of goals, such as to demon-
strate economic hegemony and political power, to promote
cultural exchange and technological competition peacefully,
to represent benefits of civilization, and to provide business
opportunities for exhibitors and to regions of venue; it can all
betracedinexposheldeversincethefirstoneheldinLondon
in 18513
. It is therefore that a history of expos through some
of their elements sheds light on positions of participating
countriesandthechangesovertime.
Themainfocusofthispaperistoexaminethetripleroleof
Modern Expos with industrial display from 1850s to 1950s
(Section 2, below). The paper further intends to demonstrate
the formation process of Contemporary Expos with its sys-
tems of display as seen in the Expo 1970 of Osaka (Section
3,below).
2 Triple roles of Modern Expo
ThemodernsystemoftheWorldExposervedanumberof
functions, all to be seen as an important role. From the Expo
ICHIKAWAFumihiko 1
1)FumihikoICHIKAWA,GraduateSchoolofEconomics,KwanseiGakuinUniversity/EHESS,e-mailaddress:kwateco@hotmail.com.This
paper was submitted to the International Symposium Expo Landscape held at Seoul National University, November 4,5, 2016, with special
thanks totheorganizersWybeKUITERTandMayukoSANO.
2) Mitsukuni YOSHIDA (ed.) Bankokuhakurankai no Kenkyu, 1986; Fumihiko ICHIKAWA “Exposition Universelles as Sacred Spaces - A
View from Modern ParisWorld Expositions” Senri Ethnological Studies v.82, 2013; Fumihiko ICHIKAWA“Kindai Pari Banbutsuhaku no
Kiseki 1855-1900”
in MayukoSANOed. BankokuhakurankaitoNingennoRekishi,2015.
3)AkiomiHIRANOOsaka Banpaku,2014,p.251.

35
On World Expos and EastAsia[이슈] Long-term trend of industrial displays, awards & pavilionsJES 60
held in 1851 in London to the Expo held 1958 in Brussels,
Expos can be characterized by a fundamentally speaking tri-
ple role. During this long period of about a century the Mod-
ern Expo was first of all an arena for exchanging messages,
secondly it was always a forum for industrial displays with a
trinity of awards system within a classification of all exhib-
its, a permission of sales of exhibits during the period of the
Expo,andestablishingstylesofdisplayinpavilions.Thethird
role Expos played was an equipment of representing arts and
goods for enlightenment of civilization in general terms (Fig
1).
2-1 Expos as an arena
for exchanging messages:
for realizing intentions
As an arena for exchanging messages, Napoléon　III , as
promoterofFrance’sExpo,planned toappealthelegitimacy
of his Second Empire of France to the World at the venue of
Expo 1855 of Paris (Fig 2). Heads of state lined up to par-
ticipate in the Expo 1855 representing the situation of power
politicsinModernEurope4
.
Expos also functioned as a spot of crossing expectations,
representations, and intentions of exhibitors, visitors, Expo
organizers, states, and basically anyone involved. Exhibitors,
proud about their products hoped to demonstrate quality and
good sense. Visitors expected to see the spectacular world of
commodities and benefits of civilization, when entering the
venue of an Expo. Expo organizers with a close relation to
the state clearly wanted to represent power of the nation on
political, economic, technological, and colonial aspects as
wellasachievementofcivilizationintheirowncountry5
.
Figure 1.Aspecial article on the Expo of Paris, held in 1878 advertised it as if all benefits of civilization and people from all over the world
gathered in Trocadéro. l’Illustration, (cover) 1 May 1878.
4) Illustration,Journaluniversel,15May1855.
5) Expositioncolonialeinternationale,Guideofficiel,1931.

36
In Modern Expos, one of the typical issues focused on
werethepoliciesofpromotingindustrialgrowthfordevelop-
ing and developed countries6
. Expos just acted as a spot of
crossing intentions for the formation of development policies
from 19th century to early 20th century. Through displays
in Expos, exhibitors’ initiatives to export their own products
accelerated as well as many states’ plans for economic mod-
ernization.
The case of a developing country is illustrated with Mod-
ern Japan that tried to establish a well-organized system of
connecting the National Industrial Exhibition and Local
Specialty Fairs with the grander vision of a World Expo for
developing industries and promoting exports. The Govern-
ment of Japan had introduced a modern exposition system
as a model for staging National Industrial Exhibitions and
Local Specialty Fairs of silk, cotton, tea, other agricultural
commodities, but also arts and crafts in cooperation with the
private sector (merchants, craftsmen) from the early 1870s7
. The ﬁrst National Industrial Exhibition (Naikoku Kangyo
Hakurankai) was organized in 1877 at Ueno, Tokyo. Local
Specialty Fairs (Kyoshinkai) or Joint Local Specialty Fairs
(Rengo Kyoshinkai) functioned as important opportunities
for selecting commodities on a regional scale to be presented
as national exhibits on a World Expo. Local Specialty Fairs
andJointLocalSpecialtyFairshadintroducedthesameclas-
siﬁcationcriteriaofjudgingasusedfortheNationalIndustrial
Exhibition for displays that naturally had a higher standard.
And, in turn exhibits of World Expos showed leading exam-
ples fuelling ambitions of exhibitors at National Industrial
Exhibition(Fig3).
In this circumstance, circles of peasants, merchants and
craftsmen had formed modernized societies of agriculture,
trade associations and craftsmen societies of each industry
and region for organizing and promoting Local Specialty
Fairs. This organic system of National Expositions and Fairs
inJapanesestylewascreatedwithcombinationofprivateen-
thusiasm and initiatives of government through participating
WorldExposinthesecondhalfofthe19thcentury.
Figure 2. Reception held at the Expo 1855 of Paris. l’Illustration, 15 November 1855.
6) ICHIKAWA2015,pp.554-555.
7)YukihikoKIYOKAWA“ShokusankougyouSeisakutoshitenoHakurankai-Kyoshinkainoigi”KeizaiKenkyu39/4, 1988

37
TheexperiencesinmodernFranceasacaseofadeveloped
country,contrastedwithJapan.Asconventionalinstitutionsof
every region, local Press, cultural circles, trade associations,
or Chambers of commerce and local Governments, such as
the Oﬃces of a prefecture or a city had functioned closely
to attract and organize a National Exposition (l’Exposition
nationale: for industry) and a Regional Contest (le Concours
régional: for agriculture) for regional development. A typi-
cal case was the National Exposition of 1895 held in City of
Angers, in western France (the region Pays de la Loire) and
the existing institutions like trade associations had formed a
groupofpromotersofNationalExposandRegionalContests
inseveralregions8
(Fig4).
Figure 3. Organising system for industrial development:Acase of developing country ---- Modern Japan
Figure 4. Reinforcing network for development of regional economy & national industry:Acase of developed country ---- Modern France
8) Expositionnationalede1895,RapportgénéraldeM.Cointreau,1895,p.6,p.111.

38
Targeting an exhibition for a World Expo, jury members
of World Expos had been often invited to these of National
Expositions. And especially a National Exposition had also
introduced a consistent system ofWorld Expos on classifica-
tionofexhibitsandcriteriaofjudgingforexhibitingcompeti-
tive products with a quality that would match aWorld Expos
inthenear future.
In response to deployment of World Expos, the regions
of Modern France had tended to flexibly reorganize a wider
group of local institutions and strengthen their own function-
ing to promote National Expos and Regional Contests. The
World Expos had induced a tighter interrelationship of local
institutions in development of a regional economic system.
AndNationalExposandRegionalContestsinmodernFrance
complemented activities towards World Expos through an
important interdependence among both the national and the
worldlevelexpositions9
.
2-2 Expos as a forum
for industrial display
The second basic role of Modern Expo was a forum for
industrialdisplayswiththetrinityofawardssystemwithclas-
sification of all exhibits, authorised sales of exhibits during
holding period of Expo and expanding styles of displays in
pavilions. Three elements of the trinity were closely com-
binedeachotherforindustrialdisplaysinModernExpos.
Awards systems, which provided medals and certificates
to exhibitors with honors, had assumed classification of all
exhibits in each expo for comparing them from all participat-
ing countries in each sector of goods based on the frame of
nature and sorts.Venues of Modern Expos also had been ex-
hibitors’siteofauthorizedsalesofexhibitspermittedbyeach
Exposition Organizing Association of a host country during
the period of the Expo. Exhibitors could sell their exhibits
as commodities, including works of arts at Expos, under the
condition that exhibited goods were handed over to custom-
ers after the end of Expo. For developing countries, Modern
Expos were thus precious and important occasion for repre-
senting their products, see the effects of showcasing them to
the peoples of the World by selling their commodities as ex-
hibitsbyparticipatinginModernWorldExpos.
9)OnothercasesofNationalExpositionin19thcenturyFrance:cf.ExpositionNationaledeNantes,1861;Ledépartementdel'Eureàl'Exposition
nationaledeRouenen1896,1897,etc.
Figure 5.Advertisement of Christofle with images of received medals of Expos 1873 and 1878.
Le Moniteur de L'exposition de 1889, n.192, 2 septembre 1888.

39
For exhibitors and exhibits, the venue of a Modern Expo
had after all a double function: it was a forum of receiving
honor (Fig 5), branding their goods, and demonstrating their
branded exhibits as commodities “for sales” through the
award system, giving all together an attractive place for a
“temporaryshop” for their ownexhibits.　　　　　
ThesystemofdisplayingindustrialexhibitsinModernEx-
pos was a most crucial point for exhibitors and participating
countries. At early stages of Modern Expos, all exhibits on
display were mostly concentrated in a main, huge building,
just like the Crystal Palace of London (Expo 1851) or the
Palais de l’industrie (Palace of Industry) of the Paris Expo
of 1855(Fig 6).
The later Paris Exposition of 1867 also kept a display sys-
tem concentrated in the main building, but also permitted
smallsitesforsomeexhibitorsseparatedfromthemainbuild-
ing. There was a tiny building of the British perfume house
Rimmel10
and other small independent pavilions of French
exhibitors,likethefactoryofleCreusot(Fig7).
Figure 6. Palace of Industry, the venue of the Expo 1867 of Paris. Henri de PARVILLE, L'exposition universelle 1890, pp.10-11.
Figure 7. Pavilion of Le Creusot Factory (Class 53,54,63,65, and 66) on the Expo 1867.
Visites d'un ingénieur à l'exposition universelle de 1867.Atlas, 1867, pl.17.
10) ShigeruKASHIMAZekkei,PariBankokuhakurankai 1992,p.223.

40
Such small buildings can be seen as originators of the later
Corporate Pavilion. From the 1880s to the 1900s, the main
building for exhibits had been divided into sections such as
Gallery or Pavilion of Machinery, Agriculture, and Trans-
port, for example as seen at the Expos of 1889, 1900, and
so on as a response to the ever growing size and numbers of
exhibits(Fig8).
Figure 8. Venue of the 1889 Expo of Paris: Gallery of Machines (right) and Pavilions.
CLERGET et al. Les Merveilles de l’Exposition de 1889, 1889.
Figure 9. The display corner of La Belle Jardinière (Class 38) at the district of French exhibits on the Expo 1878 of Paris.
Guide Conty : L'exposition en poche. Guide pratique (1878) 1878 p98.

41
In this circumstance, some big exhibitors tended to have a
certain corner under the exhibitor’s name and the title of their
brand at display within the district of their own country, such
as the corner with La Belle Jardinière or Louis Vuitton, on
display at their district of French exhibits in the main build-
ing, besides smaller sites of exhibitors derived from the main
building(for instance, Expo1867ofParis)(Fig 9).
History research on Modern Expos has often emphasized
that the Chicago Expo of 1933-1934 was epoch-making be-
cause it introduced many American private corporate pavil-
ions on the site11
. However, the proto-type of the corporate
pavilion was already present on the European expo sites as
earlyasthe1860s, and establishedinthe1870s.
2-3 Expos as an equipment
of representing arts
The third role of Modern Expos was an equipment of rep-
resenting arts and goods for enlightenment of civilization.
Artistic principles had enriched the Expo scene for visitors.
In addition most exhibits of art works, artistic crafts like por-
celains,leathercrafts,sculpturesandprintshadalsopromoted
as attractive commodities for sale. Especially most develop-
ing countries like Modern Japan spontaneously sought im-
portantbusinessopportunitiesforsellingtraditionalcraftsand
gaining foreign currencies at World Expos. With enlighten-
ment of civilization at Modern Expos, also commercialism
andartisticprinciples fused togetherintheworldofthearts.
3Anew regime from
Expo1970: aformingprocess
of Contemporary Expo
From the Expo held 1967 in Montreal, the style of the
Modern Expo with its trinity changed fundamentally. Mon-
treal decided to discontinue the ways of an Expo that had
been unchanged since 1851 in London. They ceased with
contests of exhibits, the award system providing honor to ex-
hibits through medals, and ﬁnished the practice of authorized
salesofexhibitsduringthevenueofanExpo12
.
With the Expo 1970 of Osaka the search for a more con-
temporary system of Expo continued, proposing instead of
the trinity, a new single icon for industrial display, all with
theintentiontoincreasethenumberofboththedomesticand
the foreign corporate pavilions.As such the 1970 Expo cre-
atedanewmodelfortoday’sexposattractingmorecorporate
pavilionstothevenue.
Before the Expo of Osaka, corporate pavilions on the ven-
ue had been limited to domestic corporations of host coun-
tries, including the impressive Expo 1933 of Chicago with
increased pavilions of private corporations, representing the
American big business, such as General Motors, Ford Mo-
tors, and General Electric.An exceptional case was the Expo
of 1958 held in Brussels, with some pavilions of European
andAmericancorporationsaswellasBelgians13
.
Especially big corporations tended to represent their so-
cial images and appeal their business message using their
pavilion as a communication tool, which once had been a
simple showroom or a “temporary shop” for their products
in the Modern Expo. Many corporations have changed their
11) HIRANO 2014,pp.232-233.
12)JETROKanada-Montrio-ruBankokuhakurankaiSankaHoukokusho1969;NeilCOMPTON,”Expo67”,CommentaryMagazineno.1967-
07-01,1967.
13) JETRO 1958nenBuryusseruBankokuhakurankaiHoukokusho1959.

42
strategies:abigshiftfromsellingexhibitstorepresentingand
demonstrating social images of corporations and business
messages of their products with the Expo as a transmitter.
The pavilion of Ford Motor already preferred to represent
its corporate image with the life history of the Ford family
rather than running a temporary shop of cars in the Expo of
1933-1934 in Chicago14
. In addition corporations had found
contemporary expos another business opportunity for dem-
onstrating their commitment and business appeal through
“OfficialSponsorship”or“Official Partnership”ofanExpo,
something seen particularlyaroundtheearly1990s.¥
4 Conclusion
In the age of the Modern and Contemporary Expos
the venue landscape of expos changed with an increasing
amountofcorporatepavilionsandstylesofpartnershipinthe
venue.The business scene outside the venue institutionalized
a modern industrial development program and a networking
regional economy systemized as National Exposition, Re-
gional Contest and Local Specialty Fair as well as the crea-
tion of something like the Motor Show of Paris (Le Salon de
l'automobile du cycle et des sports in 1898)15
, which became
the oldest motor show of the world, clearly derived from
the Expo 1898 of Paris, to name just one of the many other
eventsinthe1880sandthe1890s.
The landscape of venue of the Contemporary Expo trans-
formed with the expansion of colorful corporate pavilions in
a new regime since the Expo 1970 of Osaka. The business
world recognizes that Expos are still an important transmitter
or communication tool for corporate appeal and technologi-
cal innovation. This attractiveness is reflected in the number
of corporate pavilions and their participation in Contempo-
raryExpos(Fig10).
14) John E.FINDLINGandKimberlyD.PELLEed.HistoricalDictionaryofWorld’sFairsandExositions,1851-1988,1990.p272.
15) SalonduCycleetdel’AutomobileLaLocomotionAutomobile,n°38,23septembre1897,pp.448-449.
Figure 10. Numbers of Corporate & Industry Pavilion in Expos. Based on Reports of each Expo

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