‘Nest for Reborn’? Expo Pavilion under Fire over English Name

By Ryoji Fukazawa / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

14:00 JST, August 1, 2024

OSAKA — The Osaka Healthcare Pavilion at the 2025 Osaka-Kansai Expo is getting a lot of criticism over its English name — “Nest for Reborn” — which some native speakers say is grammatically incorrect.

These complaints have been rejected by the Osaka World Expo Promotion Bureau, which was established by the governments of Osaka Prefecture and Osaka City. The pavilion will be jointly set up by these two local governments.

“Rebirth” is the theme of the healthcare pavilion, which resembles a bird’s nest. The English moniker was chosen by a joint business entity commissioned by the prefectural and city governments, and is meant to evoke “a place where people can experience rebirth.”

However, many native English speakers have said the name is a little strange. In English, the preposition “for” should be followed by a noun, but “reborn” is an adjective, making it difficult for readers to understand the meaning of the pavilion’s name.

When officials of participating countries met in Nara City in June, “Nest for Reborn” was discussed in private conversations as “confusing English wording.” An official from Europe said the name is grammatically incorrect and not suitable for the event.

The bureau dismissed the criticism, saying: “The word ‘reborn’ is capitalized, so it’s a proper noun that expresses the theme of the pavilion. It was checked by native speakers, so there shouldn’t be a problem.”

The name is already being used on the expo’s official website and on printed materials, and the bureau said there are no plans to change it.

However, experts disagree.

Aimee Weinstein, an instructional associate professor at George Mason University who wrote the book “Neitibu wa Mita! Hen na Eigo” (“Lost with Translation”), said the bureau is “playing with words.” It will be difficult for English speakers to understand the name at first glance, Weinstein said.

She suggested the bureau replace “Reborn” with the noun “Rebirth.”

Akira Nakamura, an associate professor at Tokyo University of Foreign Studies who specializes in English linguistics, agreed that the name is grammatically incorrect.

“It can be fixed by adding the definite article ‘the’ before ‘Reborn’ to make it a noun phrase that means ‘people who have been reborn,’” Nakamura said.