As the Osaka Expo nears its conclusion on Monday after a six-month run, debate over the fate of the Grand Ring, an iconic wooden structure surrounding all the country pavilions, is deepening.
While the prefectural and municipal governments of Osaka have announced they will retain just a 200-meter portion of the structure with a 2,025-meter circumference, a group of citizens, academics and diplomats have called for its full preservation under the slogan, “Save the Ring.”
Apart from the 200-meter stretch that will be preserved, plans are in the works to reuse some of the wooden planks for new public housing being built in the city of Suzu, Ishikawa Prefecture, which was hit by the 2024 Noto Peninsula earthquake. Much of the remaining material that constitutes the ring, however, could be recycled into wood chips, according to officials.
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