1940 Phantom ticket grants access to 2025 World Fair in Osaka for one individual
Bold and unapologetic rewrite:
Hey kiddo! Ever heard of that dude Fumiya Takenawa? He snagged a ticket for the 1940 Grand International Exposition of Japan on the internet back in March.
Peeps sometimes call it the "ghost expo," since it was supposed to roll out in Tokyo but got pushed back forever 'cause the war got intense.
They sold a million ticket books in '38 for 10 yen, which amounts to around 17,000 yen (nearly $120) now, as The Mainichi states. Since the war got nuts, the ticket holders couldn't get their refunds.
At first, Takenawa, 25, stuck the ticket in a display case at home, but then he started wondering if it could score him a pass for the subsequent expo. When he reached out to the Japan Association for the 2025 World Exposition, they said if the ticket was real and met the requirements, it'd be valid.
Turns out, this matches their game plan. The Osaka 2025 Expo organizers told The Japan Times that they would issue "invitation tickets" to the holders of the 1940 passes, just like they did at the '70 Osaka Expo and the '05 Aichi Expo[2][3][4]. It's interesting, huh? They supposedly redeemed around 3,000 in '70 and about 100 in '05.
Takenawa, intrigued by the possibility of attending an expo with his 1940 ticket, decided to search for booklets detailing the lifestyle and travel experiences of the original attendees from the 1938 Grand International Exposition of Japan, hoping to gain insights on how to redeem his unique ticket. In his quest, he discovered that the Osaka 2025 Expo organizers will be issuing invitation tickets to those holding the 1940 passes, much like they did for the 1970 and 2005 expo, and that around 3,000 and 100 tickets were redeemed respectively from these previous events. As Takenawa continued his research, he realized that the yen value of the original 10 yen ticket had inflated significantly, equivalent to nearly $120 now.
