In front of me was a long wooden ring and people were walking on it. It looked like the ancient Colosseum of Rome from a distance. As soon as I entered the main entrance, there was a shower of colors in front of me and thousands of people were walking in line with each other. What was this? I want to tell you something else before I come to this side.
The world has held a Universal Expo every five years since 1851. It is basically a cultural show of different countries. The 2025 Expo was held in Osaka, Japan. It started on April 13 and will end on October 13. I got the opportunity to spend four days at the Expo at the invitation of the Japanese government. It was a unique experience. An auction was held in New York in 2017 for the Expo. There was a competition between France, Azerbaijan, Russia and Japan. Japan won the competition and started preparations. Thus, it took seven years to complete the preparations.
Osaka is surrounded by the sea on all sides. The government built an artificial island covering 488 acres for the Expo and built an Expo site of 383 acres on it. It is surrounded by the sea. The artificial island was named Yumishima. It was connected to the rail, road and bicycle tracks. Soil was poured on it and trees, plants and flowers were planted. Sewage pipes were laid and sewage was arranged. Water pipes were brought in and electricity and gas were arranged. A wooden ring of 61,035 square meters was built around the Expo. It is 12 to 20 meters high from the ground and 30 meters wide. There are two walkways on top of it, while below there is a place for people to sit in the rain and sun.
People go up to the ring via escalators and lifts and inspect the exhibition from a height. The ring was designed by Japanese architect Sofuji Moto and is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records. It is the first large wooden structure in human history. Japan used wood collected in the tsunami for this. It is basically large wooden logs that are stacked and joined together to create a very beautiful and impressive structure. You will be surprised to know that there are no casinos in Japan.
The government decided that it would build the first and largest casino on the island after the exhibition. The title of the exhibition is "Future Society for Our Lives" and 250,000 people come to see it every day. Special trains, shuttle buses and taxis are running for these people. Special buses have also been arranged for the Expo from the airport. There are stalls from 156 countries in the exhibition. There are three categories of stalls. In category A, countries have been allotted more than 900 square meters of land. In category B, more than 300 meters of land have been given, while in category C, there is less than 100 meters of space and it is inside the halls.
I reached the Expo on October 3. The Wooden Ring caught my attention from afar, but unfortunately I could not walk on it on the first day due to rain. I did this good deed the second day and did it with all my heart. We entered from the front of the Romanian pavilion. The main street was in front and the electric stairs of the Wooden Ring were behind. I went to see the Pakistan pavilion first. Irfan Siddiqui, a famous Pakistani journalist in Japan, was with me. He is a very noble person and an influential journalist. Along with journalism, he also does his own business and is very happy. He understands Japan very well. I advise the government to make him a special representative or commercial counselor in Japan. This will increase business relations between Pakistan and Japan.
The Pakistani pavilion is in the hall. The space is very tight, but despite this, there was a lot of rush. People were standing in line to enter. This is because of the theme and decoration of the pavilion. The name of the pavilion is Healing Garden and it was designed by the country's famous interior decorator Noor Jahan Bilgrami. The design is truly amazing and attractive. Inside, different colored salt stones from Khewra Cave are arranged like a barbecue on steel bars. When the light falls on them, they start shining like diamonds. There is a small sitting space in the middle. People were sitting on it and taking pictures while salt smoke came out from the wall and it made the atmosphere cloudy. The walls were black and the history of salt was written on them in white letters. People used to enter inside.
They used to read history, sit among the salt rocks, take pictures and then leave after performing Tawaf. There was also a stall of Pakistani handicrafts. It had blue tiles from Multan, clay paper bowls from Gujarat, copper vessels from Peshawar, shawls from Kashmir and stone calligraphy samples from Chitral. People were also looking at them in amazement. Next to them was a stall of Pakistani jewelry from which Japanese women were lining up to buy earrings and bracelets. Small copper tiles were installed on the wall of the Pakistani pavilion. These are handmade in Peshawar and are popular all over the world. People were praising Pakistani craftsmen by touching them.
Unfortunately, we are negative as a nation. We will die but will not praise anyone. I am also a victim of a ninety percent Pakistani mentality, but believe me, despite this, I was forced to praise the Pakistani pavilion. It was smaller than our profile, but it was still beautiful and impressive. Ministers and ambassadors of big countries were praising the Pakistani pavilion. All the credit for this goes to Noorjehan Bilgrami and TDAP DG Naseer Sahib. Bilgrami and Naseer Sahib really put their lives into salt. I came to know for the first time after going there that white, pink, dark pink and brown salt comes out of the Khewra mine and if it is polished a little, it shines and sparkles like diamonds and granite.
I met three people at the Pakistani pavilion. Muhammad Naseer is a Grade 21 officer and the DG of the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan. He turned out to be a very sophisticated and dynamic officer. He has built relationships with authorities in all the pavilions right and left in a very short time. He took me with him to the pavilions of Saudi Arabia and Bangladesh. The Saudi ambassador to Japan came out and welcomed us, while the DG of Bangladesh sat with us for a long time. He is a Barish and belongs to the Tablighi Jamaat.
Raiwind wants to come but is not getting time due to official engagements. Second, his classmate joined the army and is currently a Major General. He was worried about not joining the army. I advised him to change his name to General. The whole of Bangladesh will call you General even after death. He kept laughing for a long time after hearing this. Naseer Sahib has made all of them friends. I congratulated him on the magnificent pavilion. He humbly folded his hands and also gave his credit to Noor Jahan Bilgrami. The second sir is Adil Mukhtar Chaudhry. He is a junior of Naseer Sahib. He is from the Commerce Ministry. He is a resident of Okara and joined the service after completing CSS. He is an expert in e-commerce and digital marketing. He is also extremely active. And the third sir is Syed Sajjad Shah. He is associated with the tourism business. His company works in Japan and Pakistan. He had a ground services contract. He is a very interesting person. The world has seen it.
She came to Japan during her student days, got married here and started a tourism business. They are an interesting company. They don't let you get bored. Pakistan gave the PR contract to a company in Karachi, but it handed over its contract to an Indian company and disappeared, and it gave the contract to a woman from Kazakhstan. I met her, but this poor woman didn't even have a camera or a proper microphone. She was recording with her mobile phone. Shah Sahib told me that this woman cost Pakistan half a million dollars. It was extremely sad. Irfan Siddiqui had given more coverage than this for the Pakistani pavilion. I think half the money should be taken back from the Karachi company and given to Irfan Siddiqui. She deserves more than that.
There was also a Pakistani restaurant in the food court of the Expo. Its owner is Azhar Sahib. He is a citizen of both Lahore and Sindh. He came to Japan in his youth and got involved in the restaurant business here. His biryani is famous throughout the Expo. The Japanese also like it immensely and regularly stand in queues to buy it. Azhar Sahib is known as the Biryani Boy there. I also met him and was happy to see Japanese people in the entire restaurant.
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