Expo Granny's great day out
- Source: Global Times
- [13:39 June 25 2010]
- Comments
Yamada Tomiyo (fourth from the left) with other Japanese tourists in traditional dress for a World Expo event. The 61-year old spent more than 700,000 yuan on her trip to the Shanghai Expo, which she plans to attend every day for the six-month duration of the event. Photo: Dong Yunyi
By Hou Shuqi
One woman stands out among visitors to the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai. She spent more than 700,000 yuan ($102,931), got her son to quit his job to accompany her and spent the first five months of this year preparing for the six-month cultural gala, an event that she maintains saved her life when it was held in Japan five years ago.
The woman, 61-year-old Yamada Tomiyo, came to fame after she visited each of the World Expo's 373 pavilions in just 38 days, making her the first person to do so. The retired Japanese official has since been recognized by the Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination and has been profiled in international and local media, who have dubbed her the "Expo Granny."
Yamada's devotion to the World Expo, as well as the time, effort and money she spent on her pilgrimage, goes far beyond what most people would devote to such an event.
"I don't even want to spend 160 yuan ($23.52) on the Expo. It is too crowded," said Zhang Lanfang, a Shanghai resident.
The growth of an obsession
And Yamada isn't finished. "This is just my first time through the Shanghai Expo. My visit so far has just been a prelude. I am like a 38-day-old baby," she said. "I now want to spend time talking with different people visiting the Expo. This is only the beginning."
In 2005, Yamada was being treated for benign tumors that had appeared in different places in her body, including her uterus and thyroid gland. During treatment, she spent all of her time at either the hospital or her home in Seto, a city in Aichi-Ken prefecture. When the World Expo opened in Aichi that year, her family bought three-day passes in the hope of lifting her spirits. That three-day visit turned into a 185- day sojourn.
Yamada made more than 243 separate visits to the event, at the end of which Mainichi Shimbun, one of Japan's top newspapers, acclaimed for her perfect attendance.
She credits the Aichi Expo for doing more than lifting her spirits. After getting up every day at 5 am and hiking to the Aichi Expo, Yamada found that her health had improved dramatically, according to a story that has been repeatedly reported in local and international media.
At all costs
In November 2005, when Yamada heard that Shanghai would host the next World Expo, she began making plans to go. The story of her perfect attendance was already well known in the run up to the Shanghai Expo. When Shanghai Vice Mayor Yang Xiong went to Japan last year, the first Expo ticket he gave out in the country was to Yamada.
"Thanks to the Expo, I fulfilled my dream of traveling around the world," Yamada said.
At the end of last year, Yamada and her family rented an exclusive apartment in Pudong New Area, about two miles from the Expo Park. Yamada reckoned that she has already spent 700,000 yuan on her visit, including plane tickets, Expo passes and souvenirs. "Because we paid for it ourselves, we cherish it all the more," she said.
An agent from Jinjiang Travel, a Shanghai-based travel agency, said a traveler can visit more than 20 countries in Europe, North America and Australasia for a budget of 700,000 yuan.
