Meeting Venue

　　On the afternoon of March 21st, a conversational meeting named “Civilian Diplomacy Leads Sino-Japanese Relations into a New Forty-Year Era” was held in Shanghai. This meeting was jointly hosted by Shanghai Institute for International Studies (SIIS), World Expo Museum (WEM), Shanghai Association for Japanese Studies (SAJS) and Oriental Thinktank, and over 50 people from China and Japan participated in it, with an aim to reminisce about the life of Sakaiya Taichi, reflect upon the basis of the Sino-Japanese relation and stabilize and improve the relation in the future mutually.

　　As the curator of Expo Osaka 1970, Sakaiya Taichi who died this February in Japan was an active member of suggesting the host of Expo in Shanghai back in the 1980s. He was also Commissioner General for the Japan Industry Pavilion during Expo Shanghai 2010.

　　Japan Industry Pavilion, Expo Shanghai 2010

　　November 2017, Sakaiya Taichi in Shanghai for a symposium

　　Hong Hao, Chairman of Board of Directors of WEM, former Director of Shanghai World Expo Coordination Bureau, said in the meeting that the ideas and suggestions given by Sakaiya Taichi in terms of crowd management, transportation and exhibition for Shanghai Expo was generously beneficial to his experience in the preparation and operation of World Expo.“The best memory that we can carry on with Mr. Sakaiya Taichi is to stabilize and improve Sino-Japanese relations, namely further promoting the friendship between citizens of Shanghai and Japan, in order to contribute to the peace and development of Asia as well as the world.”

　　Zhou Hanmin, Vice Chairman of Shanghai Committee of CPPCC, Chairman of Shanghai Committee of China National Democratic Construction Association and former Vice Director of Executive Committee of Shanghai World Expo Coordination Bureau, Chen Dongxiao, President of SIIS, Isomata Akio, Consul-General of Japan in Shanghai, Wu Jinan, President of SAJS, Akioka Eiko, former Director of Japan Industry Pavilion of Expo Shanghai, and other guests attended the meeting for the commemoration of Mr. Sakaiya for his contribution to Shanghai World Expo, Shanghai urban development and Sino-Japanese cooperation.