Japan Pavilion of Expo 2010, Exhibition pavilion at World Expo 2010, Shanghai, China

The Japan Pavilion, nicknamed the Purple Silkworm Island, stood in Zone A of the 2010 Shanghai World Expo on a 6,000-square-metre site. Its purple exterior and silkworm-like form gave the building its name. Inside were three main exhibition areas, an events hall and a Japanese restaurant.

The Japan Pavilion was Japan's national pavilion at Expo 2010 in Shanghai, built in Zone A of the expo park on a 6,000-square-metre site. Its nickname, Kai Ko Jima (Purple Silkworm Island), came from the purple exterior colour and the building's silkworm-like form. Its first exhibition area traced Sino-Japanese cultural exchange from the Tang-dynasty missions to the present.

The nickname Purple Silkworm Island (Kaiko-jima) comes from the pavilion's purple exterior and its silkworm-like form. The first exhibition area traced Sino-Japanese exchanges from the Tang-dynasty missions to the present, while the third staged a musical combining Kunqu and Noh about joint protection of the crested ibis.

The pavilion stood in Zone A of the Expo site and covered 6,000 square metres. Inside were three main exhibition areas plus an events hall and a Japanese restaurant, so allow time to move through all of them in sequence.

The nickname "Purple Silkworm Island" comes from the pavilion's colour and its cocoon-like form; the Chinese character for silkworm (蚕) echoes the shape. The structure was designed to suggest a living creature rather than a hall, a detail visitors noticed before entering.