The 5th Domestic Industrial Expo was held
from March through July 1903.
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| (Poster of the Expo) |
What drove people to host the Expo at the
cost of destroying the Imamiya Business Club?
A series of projects such as ones o make
Tennoji Park, to develop a mega-amusement
zone equal to Namba, to construct terminal
facilities for Hankai Electric Railways and
to build a sophisticated art museum; the
idea of serving citizens with recreational
facilities would constitute a super project
for Osaka and become an initiator for a new
development of Southern Osaka. The craving
for a big success in developing such a super
project by way of making the best use of
the Expo ground grew considerably. Osaka
merchant's enthusiasm to follow the new trends
of the world and industrial maturity on one
past, and the administrative necessity to
deal with growing population in Osaka on
the other, matched well in promoting the
big project. The majority of the citizens
also were obviously much in need of some
recreational facilities.
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| ( Expo Ground in 1903 ) |
The Expo site had a space of over 3,000,000
square meters and coverd as far as the existing
Tennoji Park, the City Museum, Chausuyama,
Tennoji Zoological Garden and the whole area
of Shinsekai. At the entrance, the Main Gate
stood 27 meters higt and the site accommodated
many different types of pavilions featuring
various aspects ranging from agriculture,
science to fine arts and also pavilions representing
as many as 18 forign countries.
There were varieties of amusement facilities
and, the water slide which descended from
Chausuyama had never been seen before and
people seemed very much excited about it
and rushed to take a ride. In the 'Pavilion
of Wonders', fantastic exhibits with electric
devices were shown. Refrigerators which prevailed
little yet were exhibited, and people could
experience physically what an air conditioning
system was like.
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| ( Water Slide ) Water Chute |
People enjoyed the night view of the illuminated
pavilions. The illumination was also used
as an important light-up effect when Tsutenkaku
Tower started operation. It was taken over
in full scale when Tsutenkaku Tower was rebuilt
and its second generation went into service.
The Industrial Expo was very successful.
5.3million people visited the Expo during
the five-mounth period and they were constantly
kept surprised and were never bored about
sophisicated products achieved by the latest
techniques and many types of original playing
devices.
