Oct 31, 2024
Road to Expo 2025 EXPO and Exhibitors NO.3 Source: Daisho (OCCI) News dated October 25th
Soichiro Ohara (Kuraray) and Gen Hirose (Nippon Life Insurance Company)
Founding of the “Japan Folk Crafts Pavilion” at Expo 1970

The Japan Folk Crafts Museum, Osaka, located in the Expo Park in Suita City, Osaka Prefecture, is one of the few remaining pavilions that is a renewal of the Japan Folk Crafts Pavilion from the 1970 World Expo. The construction of the Japan Folk Craf ts Pavilion was promoted by Soichiro Ohara, president of Kurashiki Rayon (now Kuraray Co., Ltd.).

He had been a supporter of the folk craft movement in Japan since his father Magosaburo's era, and in September 1967, he was appointed as the chairperson of the preparatory committee for the exhibition of the Japan Folk Crafts Museum at the World Exp o, having also served as the president of the Japan Folk Crafts Association and he worked hard to make it a reality.

Unfortunately, Soichiro Ohara passed away in July 1968, a year and a half before the Expo was to be held. However, his spirits was taking over by Hirose Gen, President of Nippon Life Insurance Company, succeeded to his legacy and brought it to fruiti on.

The Japan Folk Crafts Museum exhibited 300 pieces selected from the collection of the Japan Folk Crafts Museum Foundation in Tokyo and 500 pieces created for the Expo, categorized into (1) old folk crafts that reflect daily life and culture, (2) mode rn folk crafts that carry on traditional techniques, and (3) new works by artists. The desire of these two entrepreneurs to help visitors from Japan and abroad understand the practicality and beauty of folk crafts that have been cultivated in the liv es of people lives on today at the Japan Folk Crafts Museum, Osaka.