How Crowded is Expo?
 

OK, I know it's not Tokyo, but it's close enough.

I just went to the Expo event reservation site, and there is almost nothing left to be reserved for June 20th, when I intend to be there. Any reports on how bad it is? Should I forget about it and spend a few days in Kyoto instead?

Can't comment directly on the Expo, as I haven't been. Look back through this forum and the "Destinations/Asia" forum and you will see reports that it has been pretty crowded and difficult to get into some venues.

In my view, a few days in Kyoto is always a good thing, particularly if you haven't been there before. A week is barely enough time to really get into what the city has to offer.

In late June, expect rain. Probably a lot of rain.

JR

Very crowded, from what I hear.
 

I haven't been to the expo myself, but one of my students just returned from Nagoya this week. According to her, the expo was extremely crowded with 2+ hour waits to get into the pavillions. She ended up not going inside any of them. She did say, however, that she was able to eat some good curry near the Sri Lanka building. Also, she told me that the entrance fee was around 4,000 yen. That seemed a little steep to me.

In general, the Japanese have tremendous tolerance for crowds and being in close contact with each other in public spaces. They'll fit twice as many people in an elevator as Westerners do, even accounting for the generally smaller land mass occupied by the physically smaller Japanese.

I've wanted to go to the Expo, but knowing what crowds can be in Japan, I've avoided it. It can be very unpleasant, although organized.

I will be at the Expo on June 20 as well with my 2 kids. I also was sad to see that everything was reserved. I set this day aside of my 7 days in Japan as I thought Monday would be slower. I will be in Koyto on the 19th. I hope to get into a couple of the good sites.

Avoid it
 

I went to the Expo last month and it was a terrible experience. I'm fairly used to dealing with crowds having lived the last 2+ years in Tokyo, but the Expo was awful - I regret going. It was basically impossible to see anything in the corporate area. The country stuff was ok, but nothing too exciting. The huge crowds were made worse by the piss-poor planning and organization. :td: :td: :td:

You've got to plan ahead for visiting an Expo. Yes, the corporate zone is packed, but the Expo site is huge and there's a lot more to be seen than Toyota's dancing robots. My top 3 picks for "interesting stuff without the queues" would be the Seto Japan Pavilion, the JR Central Linear Pavilion and the Robot Station.

More info here: http://wikitravel.org/en/Expo_2005

I initially planned to be in Expo on a weekend, but changed my itinerary to be there on a Tuesday (May 31). The local JTB office, where I purchased my Expo tickets, suggested a midweek visit.

There were a lot of people on-site, but generally did not feel "packed" (compared to Tokyo Disneyland and DisneySeas on the weekend before). Some exhibits/pavilions had horrendous lines, while many country exhibits had short or no lines. The US pavilion had a 15 minute wait, plus metal detector screening.

I would've taken advantage of the reservation system, but did not have a clear idea of what I wanted to see.