- On 16 September the GREEN×EXPO Association published its report on the press conference it held the day before at Otemachi Mitsui Hall in Tokyo, six months before opening. The pavilion nicknames and RING PASS were also announced there (our news of 15 September).
- Five special supporters, eight people: Fukura P and Hisanori Tsurusaki of the quiz group QuizKnock, TV personality Ikue Sakakibara, garden designer Masashi Mikami, the comedy duo Igo Shogi (Daisuke Fumita and Taichi Nedate), and Kiine Shiotsuki and Mai Hirayama of NMB48. Each said when they would like to go. The romanisation of their names is ours.
- Their picks: Mikami chose March, when plants begin to bud, to walk round the national gardens. Igo Shogi chose Golden Week, the late April to early May holidays, when families find it easiest to get away. Tsurusaki chose summer, the season of school holiday projects, and suggested the Urban GX Village with children. Hirayama chose August, in a yukata, for the Edo flower estate inside IROHA-GARDEN. Sakakibara chose September, for the food and farming exhibits at harvest time.
- Fukura P named a building rather than a month: NEKKO, the Theme Pavilion. Shiotsuki said she looks forward to the ikebana on show and asked people to come back at different times of year.
- From the speeches: Yokohama deputy mayor Toshihide Hirahara said the city will announce the latest on its own exhibit later in September. Italian Ambassador Mario Andrea Vattani said the Italy Pavilion will tell a story that links Japanese red wheat with Italian wheat.
- Not in the release: what the bloom calendar presented at the event says, and whether the supporters will appear at the Expo during its run.
Our take
Put the picks on a calendar and they cover March, Golden Week, the summer holidays and August, and September. That is almost the whole run, from 19 March to 26 September.
In ticket terms, the dividing line is the summer pass. It covers 1 July to 31 August and costs 12,000 yen for adults. Tsurusaki’s summer and Hirayama’s August fall inside it; Mikami’s March and Sakakibara’s September do not. Two summer visits on one-day tickets cost 11,000 yen, so the pass only saves money from the third visit.
One visit in each of the four periods costs 22,000 yen at the regular one-day price. Add a fifth and it is 27,500 yen, close to the 28,000 yen season pass. If you want to follow all five supporters, we think the season pass is worth considering from the start.
What is missing is what blooms when. Mikami’s March buds and Hirayama’s yukata visit both depend on it. On 15 September the Association said the flower estate will rotate 37 kinds of traditional garden plants through the seasons, but not which month brings which. When the bloom calendar is published, we will add it here.
Tips for visitors
- Timed-entry reservations open on Friday 18 September, first come first served. Some exhibits need a separate reservation as well, so read how timed entry and exhibit reservations work before the day.
- For a March visit, an adult one-day ticket bought by 18 March 2027 costs 4,900 yen. Bought after opening, it costs 5,500 yen.
- For the summer holidays with children, the summer pass costs 7,000 yen for ages 12 to 17 and 3,000 yen for ages 4 to 11. How many visits each ticket is worth: how to think about the season pass.
Our take
The five picks run from March to September. One visit in each of the four periods plus one more comes to 27,500 yen in one-day tickets, about the price of the 28,000 yen season pass. The bloom calendar shown at the event is not in the release.