Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Tsukuba Expo Center -part 1-

 
An adult has to pay about 3 us dollars to enter.

 
This is called "Marine Observation Satellite-1", which contributes to the preservation of the environment.  

 
These Japanese swords were produced in front of the people at Expo '85.


This is a map of the exposition that took place in '85. 

 
An overall night view of the exposition.

 
A high-vision camera that was used back in '85. 

 
This robot has a camera and it takes about 20 to 30 seconds to read a music score. This instrument-playing robot was state-of-the-art in the middle of the 80s. 


 This vehicle is called "KAZ". This is powered by the motor and it can drive at the speed of 311km/h. And it emits one third the amount of CO2 ejected by a gasoline-consuming car.

 
The interior of the car. 


There is a facility called "Tsukuba Expo Center" in my city and it houses a planetarium and displays things related to Expo '85, scientific research, and space exploration. My city is called an "academic city" and it indeed has lots of national Institutes that specialize in science and renowned high schools that let the students to go on to college. And there is a huge library near the center of my city that has tremendous amounts of books and it is very crowded over the weekend. In other words, my city has lots of institutions that cater to the need of people who want to know more about things.

And this Expo center is one of them that stimulates people intellectually. Its planetarium changes its content often, so even those who lives near this facility can enjoy it. And some of displays are often so specific that ordinary people would find it difficult to understand them.

Then again, even I could enjoy seeing those displays because there was an explanation for each exhibit. And when I visited here the other day, there were even preschool children who were excited to see those.