Going coconuts

AICHI, Japan – Who knew that the humble coconut would be our ticket to fame and fortune?

That’s precisely what happened at the 2005 World Expo in Aichi (a city in Nagoya), where the formerly overlooked wonder tree brought in hordes of Japanese visitors eager for a taste and a look at the Philippines as their possible next vacation spot.

"People were lining up for the massage and the food," says Joseph Ace Durano, Tourism Secretary and head of the Inter-Agency Preparatory Committee (IAPC), which came up with the inspired ideas behind the crowd-drawing pavilion.

Durano, Expo commissioner general Rosvi Gaetos and the IAPC thought of building the entire pavilion out of coconuts and coconut products. Based on a theme of vigorous growth – "Usbong," which means sprouting seeds – the award-winning pavilion marks the DOT’s most successful participation in an expo to date, and promises to lift our country (stuck in neutral for the longest time) into the stratosphere.

Architect Ed Calma headed the design team chosen to turn the idea into reality, and the results were three awards (including the coveted Gold Prize for design and execution of a small, one-module pavilion) and a Top 5 position among 120 countries, chosen by the Japanese themselves. Not bad considering the $2 million spent, versus a neighboring country like Australia, which spent $30 million on a three-module pavilion that won no awards.

Calma is known for his progressive, hyper-modern interiors, so he was an inspired choice to take the coconut from its primitive past to a high-tech future full of possibilities.

From the outside, the Philippine pavilion looks deceptively simple – unassuming, almost – done up in slats of leaf green with the country name in smallish letters. But each element is actually imbued with complex meaning. The façade of green aluminum strips was woven in the same way coconut leaves and fibers are woven in Philippine tradition. A calligraphic logo of a circle and upward stroke denotes a seed springing to life.

Etched via laser into the metal is a line of indigenous poetry from the Hanunoo Mangyan. With the simplicity of a haiku, the verse is rendered in both ancient Philippine script and Japanese: Says the shiny firefly looking at the woodpecker: hey, my dear friend over there, we should join and become pals at the quiet waterplace. No shortage of the cute factor beloved by the Japanese here.

Futurism pervades the pavilion interior as well. Dominating the space is a monumental sphere that looks as much like a newly landed spacecraft as it does a giant coconut. But before you can peek at what’s inside, you’re ushered into viewing the native exhibits, assembled by curator Marian Roces and housed in low wooden modules that look like space pods. Exhibits ranged from pre-Hispanic gold jewelry to tribal costumes and coconut graters; from ornately carved 19th-century bakya to South Sea pearls by Jewelmer. Protecting these priceless artifacts is a sheer mesh that is actually made from coconuts. Dr. Justin Arboleda, a pioneer in the use of coir for bio-engineering, won a Global Eco-Technology award at the Expo for this geo-textile. (Our third award was won by fellow scientist Gerardo Baron, who found a way to convert recycled waste into bio-gas for cooking.)

"In Nepal and China they use this coir to cover whole mountains to stop soil erosion," says Gaetos.

Flashed on a continuous loop above on walls of woven Silk Cocoon fabric are images of what the Philippines has to offer, from its prime beach destinations and colorful festivals to the warm hospitality of its people.

Once you’ve rounded the exhibit pods, you end up in one of two places: at the sphere, or at the pavilion restaurant, Latik, both of which were runaway hits with the Japanese.

Pampering awaited those inside the sphere, whose shell was made of 76,000 bleached coconut-shell tiles. (Only two tiles could be culled from one buko, which means 38,000 gave their shells to the cause.) Abaca lined the interior. Despite being spiky, the Japanese had no problems plopping down on it while registering for a 15-minute massage session. Upstairs, traditional hilot using virgin coconut oil was conducted on ultra-modern, coco-based lounge chairs by therapists from Cebu’s Chi Spa and San Benito’s The Farm. Having fallen victim like the rest of us to a stressful urban lifestyle, the Japanese have gravitated in the past decade to the whole spa craze and health-and-wellness phenomenon. To their credit, the DOT, which has studied its market thoroughly, knew the Japanese would be drawn to the offer of free massage like moths to a flame.

Latik, the pavilion café operated by Via Mare’s Glenda Barretto, was also picked by the Japanese as the best restaurant among the 210 countries that participated in the Expo. Barretto’s generously sized halo-halo proved the biggest draw among the 16 regional Filipino dishes she served – many with her trademark gata, and of course, adobong manok.

"The Japanese don’t like spicy and sour things," says Barretto, who grossed P32 million in her six months of running Latik. But, as seen in the frequent tastings held at the pavilion, where Japanese visitors gulped down cups of ginataan as if they were jello shots, they favor pretty much everything else.

By last July, a million visitors had seen the Philippine pavilion in what is by all accounts a highly successful Expo.

"The Japanese’s goal was to get 15 million visitors but they’ve gotten 18 to 20 million already," says Araceli Soriano, Philippine pavilion director.

Soriano noted that the daily number of visitors to our pavilion more than doubled, from 9,000 in the early days to more than 20,000 today.

"We want to get the big-spending Japanese," she says. "We have package tours and brochures all ready to offer them inside the pavilion."

In this current economic climate, the DOT has wisely chosen to focus this year on the most promising markets like Korea, China and Japan. In the case of Japan, it’s apparent they’ve studied the market so carefully and thoughtfully they know exactly what the Japanese want, and how to pitch our attractions in the most effective way possible, whether in the pavilion’s Zen-minimal design, iced desserts or a masseuse’s soothing hands. Either way, start practicing your Japanese, and get ready to greet our future Japanese visitors "Konnichiwa."