In 1970, Japan held its first world’s fair in the city of Osaka. There was certainly a lot to be optimistic about, a new decade ahead, and the general theme of the fair was more festival than exhibition, a chance for the world to come together and share ideas for a hopeful future. That said, just two years earlier, Warsaw Pact troops had invaded Czechoslovakia, strangling the Prague Spring that advocated for reforms for greater freedom. The Czech display at the Osaka world’s fair was viewed with some suspicion by the Soviet-aligned Czech government—but that didn’t stop four young citizens from making the long trip from Prague to see it.
That trip, done by foot and hitchhiking, was called the Sakura Expedition, and it remains fairly symbolic today. While the Soviets were successful in steamrolling over most Czech dissidents, the flames weren’t completely extinguished, especially among the country’s youth, and change would eventually come. In the meantime, these four youths rebelled against the restrictive travel rules and made the long journey east to Japan and back again.
Now, for the 2025 Osaka world’s fair, a tribute to the Sakura Expedition is being done by vintage car. A group of fourteen Czech car enthusiasts, supported by two mechanics, have loaded up a hodgepodge fleet of classics and are on the road to Sakura. Should they make it, their nearly 10,000 mile route will take them through Turkey, Azerbaijan, China, South Korea, and onto Japan.
The lead of this expedition is Josef Zajiček, who owns a racetrack in Most, Czech Republic. Along with his driving partner Robin Runs, host and editor of an automotive TV channel, Zajiček will be piloting a 1959 Tatra 603 on the long drive.
Tatra is, of course, the royalty of Czech automaking history. Beginning with the production of the T77 in the early 1930s (predated by the V570 prototype), Tatra built powerful, luxurious streamliner sedans that were reserved for the well-connected. Infamously, after the WWII invasion of Czechoslovakia, confiscated Tatras were the preferred transportation of Nazi staff officers.
The 603 is the direct descendant of the T77 and the T87, and features a rear-mounted, 2.5-liter V-8 and a four-speed manual. Any student of history might wonder what communist-controlled Czechoslovakia was doing building a luxury sedan in the 1950s and 1960s, but as Orwell’s Animal Farm wryly observed, “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” If you were a well-placed Party official, you might have had a Tatra.
If not, then possibly you’d be lucky enough to have a Škoda. At more than a century old, Škoda currently falls under the Volkswagen Group’s umbrella, and has produced some pretty interesting cars over the years. Its reputation wasn’t the best in the 1980s, but the modern cars are really quite good, and the vintage ones are charmingly honest.
Four of the expedition cars are Škodas: two early 1960s Octavias, a 1973 100, and a 1980 120 that’s the newest car of the group. Rear-engined, though with a small four-cylinder rather than the Tatra’s eight, the Škoda 110 and 120 have some rallying heritage in-period. It’s not quite a Porsche, but you get the feeling that Czech engineers could have built something genuinely quick had the automotive industry been allowed to compete more broadly (the 1971 Super Short concept shown here is one such example of Škoda’s potential), rather than facing the somewhat limited spread of Trabants, Ladas, Wartburgs (an East German brand), and Fiat 126 “Maluchs” built under license.
Rounding out the crew are an unlikely pair—a 1977 Toyota Celica ST and a 1966 Ford Mustang. Toyota’s Czech Republic operations are an official sponsor of the expedition, and the Celica’s driver, Lubomir Pešák, runs one of the largest vintage automotive museums in the country. A 1960s Toyota Corona accompanied the group on the initial leg of the trip, too, but isn’t making the whole journey.
The Mustang is there apparently because all the world loves a Ford Mustang, so why not? Officially, the team is looking to showcase the Czech Republic’s automaking history—in the modern era, car building makes up nearly 10% of the country’s GDP—but also just for adventure’s sake.
Another of the expedition’s sponsors is the Czech watchmaker ROBOT (owned by Zajiček), which has put out a special-edition watch to go with the trip. Car-themed watches can be hit or miss, and while this one isn’t cheap, it’s really cool, especially if you have a fondness for vintage Czech cars. It’s a clean design, and the face is patterned with the tiny silhouettes of 1950s and 1960s Tatras and Škodas.
The trip is already underway. At a launch attended by President Petr Pavel of the Czech Republic and the Japanese ambassador to the country, the team received a ceremonial blessing and good wishes. Also in attendance was a Czech automotive star: The Tatra T87 driven by Jiří Hanzelka and Miroslav Zikmund, two famous explorers who traveled extensively during the 1940s and 1950s, sending back newsreels in a publicity deal with Tatra.
In the modern age, you don’t have to wait for updates to be sent back via mail. The ROBOT Expedition has an Instagram page and other social media feeds, a live tracker of where the cars are now, and media partner Czech Oldtimer Express is live-blogging the trip. (You’ll have to rely on your browser to translate.) The teams already have run into some mechanical snags along the way—and happily solved them—as well as having to grease a few palms to get through some good old-fashioned Eastern European bureaucracy.
There are thousands of miles yet to go, crossing the Caspian and Yellow seas by ferry, and with multiple -stan-suffixed countries yet to come. Then it’ll be a stop in Seoul, South Korea, before crossing the sea to Japan itself, and making the final drive up to Osaka.
The original Czech pavilion in 1970 was officially repudiated by the Soviet-leaning Czech government at the time, criticized for being too forward-looking. Over a half-century later, these plucky examples of the best of Czech engineering (with American and Japanese four-wheeled friends alongside) will hopefully arrive to a warmer reception. Now, as then, the Czech spirit is hard to suppress. If the Tatra needs a push or two along the way, that won’t stop them.
Very cool trip. Cool to see a Celica and Mustang going along fpr the ride too.