I want to preserve the view "beyond the ring" ?
the reason I wish to save The Grand Ring in its entirety.

Through this letter, I would like to share my feelings toward the Grand Ring and explain why I wish for it to be preserved in its entirety. My high school is located very close to the Expo site. After school, when I stand on the embankment by the sea, I can see the Grand Ring in the distance. At first, I would look at it thinking, “It’s probably about the size of a dome,” but one day, cranes appeared, and I began watching with friends as the ring gradually took shape.

At that time, I was preparing for university entrance exams, so I had planned to finish high school without ever visiting the Expo. However, by chance, I won a ticket to the pre-opening test run, and decided to visit once with my family.

The moment I passed through the gate, I was speechless. Before my eyes was a ring on a scale far beyond anything I had imagined. Standing beneath the 20-meter-high wooden roof, I felt the warmth of the wood seep through my entire body, filling me with an indescribable emotion. And the moment I stepped onto the ring, something inside me changed.

The view from there was unlike anything I had experienced in my 18 years of life. A 360-degree panorama of sky, tiny figures moving 600 meters away, and the sensation of being surrounded by uninterrupted sky and sea. I had thought it was “about the size of a dome,” but in reality, it was like standing on a gigantic deck encircling an entire town. To think that such an open view could exist in the middle of a city like Osaka filled me with awe and excitement. I realized that if I had skipped visiting because of exams, I might have never known this scenery ? and that thought honestly scared me a little. At that moment, the feeling arose naturally: “I want this ring to remain.”

Inside the venue, there was also a Guinness World Records plaque. Even though the structure was brand new, it already held value recognized by the world. I was moved by the effort of the people who built something of this scale, and by the greatness of Osaka in bringing it to completion. I thought, “Now that the greatest challenge of creating it has been overcome, isn’t the next mission to preserve it?” That thought came to me naturally.

As a member of the photography club, I imagined the future through my viewfinder. Perhaps it will become a park. Or maybe a live concert venue. I pictured children playing among the greenery, couples enjoying picnics, and people gathering for concerts. I even imagined myself decades from now, bringing my own children and telling them, “The Expo used to be held here.”

But I also imagined another future. If the ring were only “partially” preserved and the rest dismantled, then even if you stood on top of it, you would no longer be able to spot people on the opposite side. The sense of scale and distance ? locking eyes with someone 600 meters away ? was what moved me so deeply. With partial preservation, that experience itself would be lost. Even if I told my children, “This used to be a 2 km ring that went all the way around,” they could never feel the same awe I felt.

A ring is only truly a ring when it goes all the way around. The vast scale, the open view, the feeling of being connected to the sky ? these can only be experienced when it remains a complete circle. It’s hard to pass on that feeling through a mere fragment. That’s why I hope, with all my heart, that it will be preserved “in full.”

To me, the Grand Ring is not just a piece of architecture. It is a place that introduced me to a view I had never seen before. I sincerely hope that this awe can be passed on to someone in the future. I pray that my feelings will reach those who can make it happen.

Founder
Miremire