In a recent essay published in Japanese magazine an-an, Hideo Kojima reflected on the impact the 1970 Osaka World Expo had on his life and career as a creator. Although he’d only just become a grade schooler at the time, Kojima described the event as a formative experience that shaped his worldview and creativity to the point that his later works, including Metal Gear and Death Stranding, would not have existed without it.
As he lived near the Expo site, Kojima said he visited the event numerous times. “I experienced up close the ‘future and harmony of the world,’” he wrote. “Getting to ‘shake hands’ and ‘say hello’ to people like Taro Okamoto, Sakyo Komatsu, Kenzo Tange, Kisho Kurokawa, Junko Koshino, and Hanae Mori, was a shocking ‘Close Encounter of the Third Kind’ for me.” Interestingly, Kojima refers to the 1970 Expo as a dividing line between his life’s “personal B.C and A.D.”
He emphasizes that the Expo’s true greatness was not just in its cutting-edge technology and visions of life in the future, but in its diversity. “It also showed me the coexistence of different countries, races, religions, customs, and histories. It was the embodiment of ‘the past and future,’ ‘the world and harmony’ itself.” Kojima concludes that without it, his “futuristic mindset and globalism would have never developed, and as a result, Metal Gear and Death Stranding would not have come into being either.
On the other hand, reflecting on this year’s Osaka Expo 2025, Kojima seems disappointed with what he sees as a lack of ambition and futuristic vision compared to 1970’s event. He was even approached by the government’s preparatory committee for ideas, but it seems his proposals were too ambitious for Expo 2025’s budget.
Sounds like the kind of event that was probably the catalyst for a lot of creative endeavors— I wonder how many people were similarly inspired like Kojima. A bit sad that it’s maybe not up to snuff with its former self, but it still likely continues to be a source of inspiration
The humourous part is going to expo in 2005, awesome all pavilions open, amazing.
Going to expo in 2025 can’t get in anywhere, hours of wait time, only for corporations.
Huge shift.
I don’t think many people will experience expo in the future.
Great article, Kojima is a true visionary. Lamenting on the past, meeting his heroes, excited for the future; and yet, disappointed by the present’s future is almost poetic.
I’d love to someday try my hand writing about topics like this. Kojima is one of the few devs in the industry trying new things and although opinions are divided, Death Stranding is in my opinion a gem among diamonds. That is, coloured beautiful by imperfections in the past, stands in stark contrast to one of the most common stones in the universe, artificially inflated by greed.
I am excited for OD and whatever it’s about, I’m sure it will be beautiful in its mystery and horror. After a long past of pressure and greedy limitations now free to create games that blur the lines between games and film.
It feels like the Expo has gotten away from the average person and is more corporate now. Back in 70 is way different than 2025 in that we have discovered or invented so many things in that span of time and we know now what is really possible and what is more fantasy than reality.
Hideo is completely brilliant and his work has literally changed my life, I build submarines and his work pushed through miles trials and hardships and his games definitely motivated me to keep going and build this life’s metal gear
Some people world say you missed the point but that’s not how I see it,
You can have your globalism.
Bless dat expo
It’s because average IQ is dropping so hope has left the world. I’m old enough to remember similar events and the feeling that we could colonize the stars was palpable and uplifting. Now science means whatever corporations want it to mean with fear mongering about made up ecological collapse and racial guilt being the primary focus. Who would want to go to such an event now?