NAGOYA -- Aichi Prefecture has dropped a controversial plan to build a housing development in the Kaisho Forest, site of the 2005 World Exposition and close to the city of Seto, after the event concludes.
The expo, to be held under the theme "Beyond Development: Rediscovering Nature's Wisdom," has been criticized at home and abroad as a contradiction because the Kaisho Forest was to be cut down and a massive housing complex to go up on the site after the event.
The government changed its tune after a visit last year by officials from the International Exhibitions Bureau (BIE), which is based in Paris.