OSAK A: Japan`s prime minister urged the importance of unity in a world plagued by `divisions` at a futuristic but also tradition-steeped opening ceremony for the World Expo on Saturday.

Everything from a Mars meteorite to a beating heart grown from stem cells will be showcased during the six-month event, which opens to the public on Sunday.

The vast waterfront site in Osaka will host more than 160 countries, regions and organisations.

`Having overcome the Covid pandemic, the world now faces the crisis over many different divisions,` Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba told the opening ceremony. `It is extremely significant that people from all over the world gather and face the question of lifein this era, exposing ourselves to state-ofthe-art technology and diverse cultures and ways of thinking,` Ishiba said.

Expo is also known as a World`s Fair and the phenomenon, which brought the Eiffel Tower to Paris, began with London`s 1851 Crystal Palace exhibition and is held every five years.

Most pavilions each more outlandishly designed than the last are encircled by the world`s largest wooden architectural structure, a towering latticed `Grand Ring` designed as a symbol of unity.

An array of colourful imagery symbolising life, birth and nature adorned a massive screen in a minutes-long video at Saturday`s ceremony, with foreign dignitaries and Japan`s royal family in attendance.-AFP