Osaka made its final pitch Wednesday in Paris to host the 2025 World Expo, emphasizing the Kansai region's history as a center of Nobel-prize winning scientific research and telling expo delegates that the central government is willing to spend ¥24 billion to ensure 100 countries are able to participate in the event.
But questions remain whether Osaka, the government and business communities can effectively lobby enough delegates from the Paris-based Bureau International des Expositions, the organization in charge of overseeing World Expos, to win the majority of the 170 votes needed before the final decision is made in November.
Shinya Yamanaka, a co-winner of the 2012 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine and the head of Kyoto University's Center for iPS Cell Research and Application, was the featured speaker at Osaka's presentation in Paris. In his remarks, Yamanaka spoke of science opening a door of wonder, saying it was at the 1970 Osaka Expo where he, as an eight-year-old boy, experienced the wonders of life science, helping to set him on his career path.