Inexplicable

On sunday, Japan celebrated the closing of the World Exposition 2005 in Aichi Japan. In theory, this was supposed to be Japan's chance to showcase itself, its relations with the other nations, and all its great forward thinking policies and scientific advances. Like not allowing people to bring their own food so they have to stop at one of the "gourmet restaurants" to get something to eat. (The policy was dropped after much public outcry.)

But this was in Aichi, a prefecture in the middle of Japan. So why was there a blimp which seems to be meant to encourage foreign tourism in Japan with its "Yookoso Japan/Japan Welcomes You" logo, circling a suburban Saitama area, in the eastern part of Japan? And why has it been doing so on weekends for the last couple of months, hundreds of miles away from the International Exposition?

I'm not one for pointless paranoia, but seriously... what the hell is going on here? Either there's some other security/surveillance reason to have a aerial observation platfom circling a suburban population center, or else there really is someone who thinks that there is a mass of untapped international tourism money hidden in Saitama, just waiting for a blimp-borne message to unleash it.