As well as being a chance to showcase Austro-Hungarian industry and culture, the World's Fair in Vienna commemorated Franz Joseph I's 25th year as emperor.

Shigenobu Okuma, Tsunetami Sano, and its other officials were keen to use the event to raise the international standing of Japanese manufactures and boost exports.

[2] Art and cultural relics at the exhibit were verified by the Jinshin Survey, a months-long inspection tour of various imperial, noble, and temple holdings around the country.

[2] Apart from the collection of regional objects, which focused on ceramics, cloisonné wares, lacquerware, and textiles, the displays also included the female golden shachi from Nagoya Castle and a papier-maché copy of the Kamakura Buddha.

[2] The year after the fair, Sano compiled a report on it which ran to 96 volumes divided into 16 parts, including a strong plea for the creation of a museum on western lines in the Japanese capital; the government further began hosting national industrial exhibitions at Ueno Park in 1877.

[2] Le Nil, a French Ship, set off from the port of Triest to Japan loaded with a number of items from the fair, in total 192 boxes.

"[14] New Zealand was represented at the 1873 Vienna International Exposition by a collection of Māori clubs, mats and cloaks, as well as gold, woodwork, kauri gum and geological specimens.

A collection of birds was prepared by a London taxidermist and Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria-Hungary was said to have been "astonished" by a pair of moa skeletons from the Canterbury Museum.