The senior adviser to the 2005 World Exposition to be held in Aichi Prefecture submitted new proposals Friday to scale back expansion of the event. A previous plan involved augmenting the site by including neighboring land.
Taichi Sakaiya made the proposal at a leadership meeting to promote the show. Aichi Gov. Masaaki Kanda, however, asked him to support the flattening of hilly areas within the site to use it more effectively, instead of expanding it.
Sakaiya originally said he did not have an alternative plan for the expansion and if locals did not like it, the expo would only be on a regional scale instead of an international one.
The event, to have the theme "The Wisdom of Nature," is to run from March 25 to Sept. 25, 2005.
The government has sent invitations to 187 countries and 73 international organizations. Its bid was approved by the Paris-based Bureau of International Expositions in December.