CHUUK STATE CRAFTS AND IMAGES GAIN ATTENTION AT OSAKA EXPO 2025

The World Expo in Osaka has been ongoing since the month of April. The Federated states of Micronesia has a pavilion within “the ring” where 180 countries around the world vie for direct global attention toward their demonstrations for and celebration of arts, crafts, businesses, history, economy, people, technology, innovations, traditions – just about anything that make them “stand out”. FSM activities, led by the National Government Department of Resources and Development, spread through month-long periods of exhibitions by each of the four States: Yap, Chuuk, Pohnpei, and Kosrae. From mid-June, 2025,Chuuk Visitors Bureau (CVB) staff Jed Hainrick andReachhard Lukas, came to Osaka bringing love sticks, spirit masks, storyboard carvings, shell leis, woven wall decorations, and other items that high-beam the intellectual properties and creations from the people of Chuuk. Our closing week is an intense period, displaying models of the famous shipwrecks made by Holger Buss of Germany and featuring paintings by the young and talented Lissette Yamase. In the tradition department, the presentation of the ChuukSepiechen was done by a group of three: MarzAkapito, Kampetson Dwayne KD Olap, and Repienifou Urban JP Akapito. The particular “sepiechen” presentation is an adapted version of the authentic harvest acknowledgement ritual due to traditional chiefs in a village-based ceremony. Besides promoting destination Chuuk and Micronesia, our presence at the expo attracted tremendous interest fanned by newspaper articles. We believe that our exhibits would underscore the strong “kizuna” between the people of Japan and the people of Micronesia, with spin-offs in overall travel interests relating to diving industry and nature-heritage tourism.