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The millennium's first World's Fair in the eco-conscious and technologically advanced country of Japan was dedicated to bettering our planet.

For an instant blast to the future there may be no better vacation this year than a week spent in Nagoya, Japan during the run of the Expo 2005 Aichi. Who needs to be a cosmonaut when you can try the non-stop JFK-Nagoya flight recently introduced by Northwest, which whisked us away from New York's Long Island to Japan's large island in a mere 13 hours, going halfway around the world in 1/80th the time it took Jules Verne to circumvent it. You'll need at least four times that amount to visit Expo's 124 pavilions and meet the 31 "working" robots, from Nannies to Garbage Collectors to Wheelchair Pushers, who address visitors in several languages. Only through serendipitous exploration is the Expo's theme "Wisdom From Nature" revealed.

Nature is the driving force behind Expo 2005 Aichi, the first world exposition of the millennium. According to Taizo Watanabe, Commissioner General of the 2005 World Exposition, the Japanese government was eager to host a global event that would unite the continents in a shared quest for environmental harmony. Concerned that the classic World's Fair concept would be out of date in the digital era, Mr. Watanabe noted in an interview on opening day, "We are trying to redress the mistakes made in environmental pollution and use new means to solve the world's problems of water and domestic health without relying on limited resources."

To reinforce its environmental theme, the Expo was located outside Nagoya (Japan's third largest city and the home of the Toyota company, also an Expo sponsor), without disturbing the terrain of a large pubic recreation area. Furthermore, each participant has pledged to remove and recycle its pavilion materials as soon as the Expo's six-month run finishes on September 25, 2005. Since foliage and landscaping were left intact during the fair's quick construction period, attractions are inefficiently but attractively spread out over a wide area, requiring two days to see in full. Fortunately, it's well worthwhile.

Fuel and Transportation for the Future

Solar powered structures and a 150-meter-long by 15-meter-high wall of plants known as the Bio Lung (predicted to cool the surrounding air in summer) are some of the Expo's exciting energy innovations. The NEDO Technorium features next generation robots, fuel cells running off compost, photovoltaic power generation, NaS batteries and recycled biomass as well as many other conservation initiatives that provide a glimpse of the future.

Families will be able to take Japan's excellent train service from the main Nagoya station (said to be the largest in the world, with a Takashimaya department store and the luxury 57-story Nagoya Marriott Associa above it), a shuttle bus or subway directly to Nagakute, the current Expo grounds. The remaining way is traversed aboard the Limino, the country's first operational maglev train.

Theme park fans already know that super conducting magnetic levitation has been experimented with by ride manufacturers. As rides approach the natural limit of gravity to adhere a moving vehicle to near-frictionless tracks at high speed, superconducting magnet technology has evolved to take advantage of the incredible adhesion (and repulsion) of electronically charged magnets. One must-see is the JR Central Pavilion sponsored by the JR rail line, whose pioneering work 20 years ago with the high-speed Shinkansen, or bullet train, revolutionized the passenger rail experience around the world. The Limino may again revolutionize the country's rail system boasts the Pavilion's interesting documentary, though such a large scale project is predicted to cost billions of dollars and years of effort.

Other innovative transportation includes the IMTS, or Intelligent Multimode Transit System, a sleek white and black glass vehicle that drives itself and delivers Expo goers to pre-ordained stations; the battery-powered Global Tram that circles the walkways; finely-engineered Bicycle Taxis or human-powered rickshaws; and two wheelchair-accessible Gondolas, named for Morizo and Kiccoro, the Expo's utterly charming, fuzzy green mascots.