Nonetheless, anti-Expo sentiment at the time was widespread.
From the “Architects 1970 Action Committee” to the “Expo 1970
Destruction Joint-Struggle Group,” speculation and criticism of
the multiple strands of intentionality undergirding the Expo often
regarded the technological achievements as a means to “distract
the nation from the renewal of the U.S. Japan Security Treaty” by
“incorporating intellectual elites within theinstitution” (Koichi, p.
12). However, by geo-spatially re-tracing the temporal evolution
of ideologies and works of the various actors (the state, the
artists, the architects, and the protesters) a perpetual theme of
spatial violence and bodily protests evolve from the ideas and
early artworks of Okamoto, to the naked group performances of
the Zero Jigen, to a week-long occupy performance of Sato
Hideo. While each iteration of spatial violence and reactionary
protest build upon its predecessor, each is undeniably distanced
from their political tones. The Symbolic Zone of the Expo, and
more specifically, the Tower of the Sun, provided a platform for
multiplicity of dissonant voices invested in nationalistic images of
progress and harmony, suggesting that anti-sentimentalities and
protests were key to a pluralistic image of progress and stability.