Expo Update
Friday, 12 March 2010 05:03
Written by Urbanatomy

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Local families open their homes for the Expo

Whether its language barrier, culture shock or just shyness, when you’ve only got a few days to visit, it can be a pretty hard to make a real connection with a city and its people. Luckily for visitors to the Expo, a number of generous-spirited families are doing their best to remedy this, opening their homes and hosting tourists during the festivities. We paid them an early visit and asked why they decided to throw open their doors. 

Expo Update
Thursday, 11 March 2010 07:03
Written by Urbanatomy

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 OMG! If you couldn't get excited for the Expo before, do so now: the Japanese Corporate Pavilion is promising to bring us the world's cleanest, most comfortable toilets. 

"People will feel as happy and relaxed in the toilets as they would in a comfortable living room," said Sakaiya Taichi, comprehensive producer of the Japan Industry Pavilion, according to an Expo press release.

The luxury toilets will feature aromatic scents and 24-hour cleaning.

Oooooh. Let me in, I might not ever leave. 

Expo Update
Wednesday, 10 March 2010 06:03
Written by Rosemary Zhu

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Sisters, a series of documentaries about 21 Australian and Chinese women who are making a difference to their communities, is going to be shown in the Australian Pavilion during the Expo. The filmmaker Annie Venable had an exclusive chat with Urbanatomy about her films.

Expo Update
Saturday, 20 February 2010 06:02
Written by Helen Elfer

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With just a few months left before Expo begins, Shanghai's authorities are cracking down on foriegners living illegally in the city.

As part of the campaign, 11 foriegn nationals were arrested - six for overstaying their visa period and five for performing in bars without the proper permits.

Gu Wen, an officer with Shanghai exit-entry administration bureau said: "As the Shanghai Expo approaches, we launched a half-month long campaign at the end of January to inspect foreigners living in the city."

Read more at The Global Post

Expo Update
Monday, 08 February 2010 08:02
Written by Helen Elfer

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Anyone who spends their time bemoaning the lack of Michelin-starred chefs in the city will be delighted to hear that the Belgian EU Pavilion is going to be overrun with them.
Every two weeks throughout the Expo period, one of 12 up-and-coming chefs will take over the Belgian Essence restaurant kitchen and prepare a menu of authentic Belgian cuisine.
To highlight the diversity of Belgian gastronomy, each Michelin-starred chef comes from a different Belgian province, and two from the capital of Brussels. They will be tasked with representing the culinary specifics of that region in their menu. Vincent Gardinal, Dimitri Marit, Pascal Devalkeneer are three of the chefs who will soon be cooking up a storm on the Expo site.