Hideo Kojima has written an essay for the Japanese magazine An-An (spotted by Automaton) on one of his favourite topics: the 1970 World Expo held in Osaka, Japan. Kojima has often touched on this event in his writings, and the impact that his repeated visits had on his young mind. This time around, he's even crediting it with inspiring Metal Gear and Death Stranding.
Expo '70 was organised around the theme of "Progress and Harmony for Mankind", and featured participation from 76 countries and 32 organisations. It had a theme song, Haruo Minami’s 'Sekai no kuni kara konnichiwa' (Hello from all over the world), which Kojima is a little obsessive about: the song repeats the "hello" refrain many times as well as talking about humanity "holding hands" across borders. It's actually a bit of a bop.
