Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori instructed Trade Minister Takeo Hiranuma on Tuesday to do his utmost so Japan can have its revised plan for the 2005 World Expo in Aichi Prefecture submitted to the Paris-based Bureau of International Expositions in September.
Mori gave the order Tuesday afternoon when Hiranuma met with the prime minister to inform him that a decision to substantially scale down the earlier expo plan, which raised concerns over environmental damage at the proposed site, had been reached by a study panel of the Japan Association for the 2005 World Exposition.
According to the revised plan, proposed by the expo organizers and approved by the panel, the expo site to be built in Kaisho no Mori, a wooded region in the southern part of the city of Seto. The size of the expo site will be reduced from the original 47.2 hectares to 10.35 hectares.