Why so much hate?

Went to the expo today (June 6). I did read lots of (negative) reviews on here beforehand, so my expectations were quite low - and that’s probably the key to having a good time.

I went with my partner and we had water, snacks, UV protection clothing and umbrella, sunscreen, sunglasses, cooling wipes and towels to be prepared for the hot and humid weather. Of course it was still unbearably hot, but that would be the case anywhere around this region if not inside a building/vehicle with A/C.

We booked the time of entry for 12pm and arrived there at around 1pm. There was no line at all and we could just walk in.

To avoid frustration by not getting any reservation or using the website (I agree that it is terrible) more than necessary, we decided to not try to book anything at all and just go with the flow while there. We still ended up seeing about 12-ish pavilions as well as two multi-country halls. We most certainly missed out on some of the more popular/interesting ones I guess, but we also didn’t do that much research, so we also don’t know what exactly we missed. We generally opted for the less crowded pavilions and the longest we had to wait was about 30min for Germany. There were also some pavilions where you could just walk in without a line.

In the end, we spent about 8 hours there and the time just flew by. We actually enjoyed learning about the lesser known countries in the commons halls and didn’t necessarily like the bigger and flashier ones better, but that’s a personal taste.

It might also be important to note that neither of us went to a world expo before, so we don’t know what the other ones were like (comparison is the thief of joy anyway lol). And we’re not on a tight schedule as we have more than a month in Japan. Personally, I would definitely recommend going there if you have the time. Just be prepared for the weather, don’t stress about the reservations (there’s enough other stuff to see!) and go there with an open mind. In the end, there’s SO much work from so many people behind all this (even though not perfectly organized, as others have pointed out many times) and I find it so fascinating how they built everything in such a short time and how many hours of planning as well as tons of resources have gone into all of this. Just try your best to enjoy it and you might end up doing so :)