On the Afternoon of January 8th., Tomiyo Yamada, the well-know “Expo Granny” together with her husband Kanetoshi Yamada and son Kazuhiro Yamada attended a tea party themed as “Talking about Expo with Expo Granny” organized by Shanghai Municipal Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries.  

Meeting long-time friends, expoholic granny Tomiyo Yamada shared happy memories and keen aspirations about the Expos together with her friends during the event. Also presenting at the event were the leaders and persons-in-charge of the Post-Expo Research Center, the Editorial Office of Expo Chronicles, Shanghai Institute of International Studies(SIIS), the Expo Bureau of Shanghai FTZ, and the WEM. The event was chaired by Jin Ying, Vice Chair of Shanghai Municipal Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries.

At the event

Jin Ying, Vice Chair of Shanghai Municipal Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries

Yu Li, Vice Director of the Press & Publicity Department of Shanghai Expo Bureau introduced the origin of the nickname “Expo Granny”. Yang Yajun, a representative of Shanghai citizen, talked about her friendship with Expo Granny during Milan Expo 2015.

Yuan Wenjiong, Vice Director of the General Office of Expo Bureau of Shanghai FTZ briefed Expo Granny about the development blueprint of the Expo Site. Huang Yaocheng, the Executive Secretary of Post-Expo Research Center and the former Vice Director of Shanghai Expo Bureau talked about the participation of Shanghai at Milan Expo 2015. Chen Hongbin, one of the co-authors of the Chapter of Expo Effect of Shanghai Expo Chronicles, the former head of SIIS, mentioned the impact brought by Shanghai Expo in terms of public diplomacy. Lorelei Liu, Director of the WEM, and Zhu Minyan, Director of the Editorial Office of Shanghai Expo Chronicles made an introduction about the preparation of the WEM and the composition of the chronicles respectively.   

Yang Yajun and Expo Granny became close friends after Milan Expo

Huang Yaocheng, the Executive Secretary of Post-Expo Research Center and the former Vice Director of Shanghai Expo Bureau talked about Shanghai’s Participation at Milan Expo

Lorelei Liu, Yu Li with Tomiyo Yamada and her family

Expo Granny--Tomiyo Yamada showing her Expo notebook

Expo Granny felt very glad after hearing all the introductions. She mentioned this was her 28th. visit to Shanghai since her first one on November 3rd.,2005. Her first trip to Shanghai was actually guided by a report in the Japanese Economic News about the Expo 2010. She said she brought the newspaper with her this time and was thinking of going to the place mentioned in the report. After learning that the place (Zhoujiadu Ferry Station) was gone, she nodded and said she was impressed by the construction progress on Puxi side as standing in the Pudong site, and could imagine the buzzing picture in Zone A when looking out from Puxi. She said the Huangpu River would be stunningly beautiful if it were decorated with green plants. Therefore, she advised Vice Chair Jin to hold a Flora Expo in Shanghai so as to enhance the green space and living environment in Shanghai.

Expo Granny also mentioned Shanghai Expo’s difference from Aichi Expo in retaining lots of the pavilions. She said she was excited about this and was especially happy to have visited the Expo (Shanghai) Group and watched the footages and models there. She walked around the Expo Site which has been divided into various parts to attract world class enterprises. She was deeply impressed and felt very happy that top foreign and Chinese enterprises are settling in the Expo site apart from the bund area and other many places in Shanghai. Despite her frequent visit to Shanghai, Expo Granny said she still found out a lot new information this time given Shanghai’s rapid development pace. Expo Granny said she’d tell her friends in Japan about Shanghai’s initiative in utilizing Expo sites. She said it was very inspiring for her and Shanghai was one step ahead of Tokyo in this regard.

Expo Granny thanked Lorelei Liu, Director of the WEM in particular for the video of the WEM. She said she noticed the WEM metro station had been put into use. It would be easier to come and meet everyone here. She would invite more of her friends to come over to Shanghai and extended warm welcome to Shanghai citizens to visit Aichi.

Message to Expo Granny by Director Liu of the WEM