Supermarket Trade Show 2023 is to be held with 2,046 companies and 3,271 booths.
The 57th Supermarket Trade Show 2023 (SMTS 2023) – the trade show for the food distribution industry will take place for three days from February 15 to 17, 2023 at Makuhari Messe in Chiba, Japan. The event is organized by The Japan Supermarkets Association.
A new Frozen x Food category will be established in the Food Trend Zone. A total of 134 booths from 58 companies and organizations will showcase their best products.
In addition, a frozen food expert Takeshi Nishikawa has been appointed as the ambassador for the Frozen x Food zone.
Supermarket Trade Show 2023 will have 2,046 exhibitors and 3,271 booths (as of January 15, 2023) showcasing more than 1,400 local product manufacturers from all over Japan. 95 overseas companies and organizations from 16 countries will participate with 104 booths.
Tokyo Auto Salon 2023 attracts 180,000 visitors, up 140% from the previous show.
Tokyo Auto Salon 2023, one of the world’s largest custom car exhibitions, was held at Makuhari Messe in Chiba for three days from January 13 to 15, 2023.
The number of participants (including exhibitors, related parties, and the concurrent exhibition “TOKYO OUTDOOR SHOW 2023”) over the three-day period totaled 179,434 (126,869 in 2022), approximately 140% up from the previous show. Although the number of visitors is not yet close to the pre-Corona edition of approximately 330,000, it is significantly regaining scale.
The number of exhibitors was 341 (vs. 366), the number of vehicles exhibited was 789 (vs. 712), and the number of booths was 3904 (vs. 3318), indicating that the number of booths per company is increasing.
The 2024 Tokyo Auto Salon will be held at Makuhari Messe for three days from January 12 to 14.
Harry Potter-themed entertainment facility at the former Toshimaken site will open in the summer of 2023.
On December 1, Warner Bros. Studio Japan, LLC (Toben Jensen GM, Minato-ku, Tokyo) announced that Warner Bros. Studio Tour Tokyo – Making of Harry Potter will open in the summer of 2023 at the former Toshimaen site in Nerima-ku, Tokyo.
Warner Bros. Studio Tour Tokyo is a walk-through entertainment facility where visitors can actually experience behind-the-scenes production of the “Harry Potter” and “Fantastic Beasts” film series.
This facility is the second to open in the world and the first in Asia, following the “Studio Tour London” in the UK, which has attracted more than 16 million visitors since its opening in 2012.
The facility, which occupies an expansive site of approximately 90,000 square meters (the size of two Tokyo Dome), features the Great Hall that often appears in the movies, the Hogwarts Express on lines 9 and 3/4 leading to the Wizarding World, Diagon Alley, and the Hogwarts Moving Staircase area, which offers an interactive experience where visitors can actually become a moving portrait by taking their own picture in front of the portrait.
［Speakers］
・Takeshi Tanaka, president of RX Japan
・Taro Komiya, Senior Managing Director of the Japan Management Association (JMA)
Through the COVID-19 pandemic, society worldwide underwent a major transformation. Digital transformation (DX) has progressed rapidly, transforming people’s values and working styles. The emphasis has shifted to how to achieve maximum efficiency at a minimum cost by making full use of digital technology. Exhibitions are no exception to this trend, and it is no longer acceptable to devote resources to an exhibition simply because it is an annual event, as in the past.
So, what kind of presence should exhibitions have in the future?
To find out, we sat down with Takeshi Tanaka, president of RX Japan, a long-time leader in the Japanese exhibition industry, and Taro Komiya, senior managing director of the Japan Management Association (JMA), to discuss this question.
September 27, 2022, Tokyo Midtown Yaesu Coordinator: Tatsuro Ikegami
■Exhibitions are the place to demonstrate national strength.
ーHow have you been involved with exhibitions in the past? What is your perception of the nature and role of exhibitions?
Takeshi Tanaka, president of RX Japan
Takeshi Tanaka
I joined RX Japan (then Reed Exhibitions Japan) in 1999, and at that time, exhibitions had a strong image of being festivals-like events where a large number of people gathered together. The motivation for exhibiting seemed to be more about showing the strength of the company rather than conducting business meetings with buyers. Later, as the economy gradually stagnated, buyers became more serious about the standards they demanded of exhibitions, and exhibitors began to seriously consider cost-effectiveness. They began to analyze their client’s needs in detail. As the organizer, we were working on creating a more meaningful platform for both exhibitors and visitors, when the world faced the COVID-19 pandemic following by the Great Reset. The companies who had continuously exhibited at each show reviewed their budget and the questioned whether the show was really worth attending. We were now at the point where we had to reevaluate what exhibitors were really looking for, and at the same time, we had to prepare objective data that could be used as a basis for our analysis, just like marketing companies do. This flow is expected to accelerate in the future even more. The future development of exhibitions will not be possible without creating a platform by combining the unique advantages of the real world of face-to-face (F2F) with the speed of digital technology. The desire for deliverables and tangible numbers is growing stronger and stronger, so it is up to us as organizers to show how we can meet that demand.
JIMTOF 2022 the 31st Japan International Machine Tool Fair was held for six days from November 8 to 13 at the Tokyo Big Sight and was organized by Japan Machine Tool Builders’ Association and Tokyo Big Sight management.
The special area bringing together AM products and technologies was set up as well. (Additive Manufacturing (AM for short) is a hot trend that is expected to grow. It is an innovative technology in manufacturing where the process of creating an object is by building it one layer at a time which is the opposite of subtractive manufacturing, in which an object is created by cutting away at a solid block of material until the final product is complete).
In addition to lectures and seminars, exhibitor workshops were held in the conference building, where companies presented their cutting-edge technologies and solutions. IMEC 2022 the 19th International Machine Tool Engineers’ Conference and events of related domestic organizations were also held.
Two shuttle bus routes operated from the Kokusai Tenjijo Station. An intra-venue jumbo taxi also made the rounds, directly connecting the east, west, and south sides of the venue.
JIMTOF Kitchen was set up in a special restaurant in East Hall 7, and JIMTOF FOOD FESTIVAL was held outside the East Exhibition Hall and in the South Exhibition Hall. The World Food Stall Village with its international atmosphere drew lines of visitors.
The fair was attended by a total of 114,158 visitors.
Messe Nagoya, is one of the largest cross-industrial exchange festivals in the Chubu region, with approximately 800 exhibitors.
This event will take place for three days from November 16 to 18 at Port Messe Nagoya, New Exhibition Hall 1. The exhibition started in 2006 as a festival of cross-industrial exchange to carry on the philosophy of the Aichi Expo (environment, science and technology, and international exchange).
Products and services will be gathered from a wide range of fields and regions, transcending industry and business categories, to address issues such as advanced functions and performance, environmental friendliness and energy, management support and work style reform, design utilization, utilization of regional resources, and industry-academia/business collaboration.
The 17th edition of the exhibition will be held in a hybrid format, the same as the previous year, with 1001 booths from 827 companies and organizations. The special Agri-Cross event aims to create opportunities for companies to advance into smart agriculture and will feature an exhibition of the latest agri-tech (elemental technologies) and a plan to realize collaboration projects with a number of companies. Messe Nagoya AI Matching, a regular AI-based matching system, will be offered at this year’s exhibition as well. In addition, the Future Exchange Station will be set up in the exhibition hall as an information board to promote business exchanges between exhibitors and visitors.
Business seminars will include a lecture by journalist Goro Okazaki on the topics “Has the World Really Switched to EVs? ～Discrepancy between media reports and the real world～” and “It All Starts with a Vision” by Masashichi Nakagawa, Chairman of Nakagawa Masashichi Shoten.
Tokyo Metropolitan Government officially announces the subway concept connecting central Tokyo to Tokyo Big Sight.
Governor Yuriko Koike held a regular press conference and officially announced the concept of a subway system for the waterfront area of central Tokyo.
“The waterfront area has great potential to attract people and investment from all over the world, with various large-scale developments underway. The subway is expected to serve as the backbone, so to speak, of the core transportation infrastructure connecting the city center and the waterfront area. Enhancing the railroad network in the Bay Area, this line will be important in making Tokyo a sustainable city. We have established a study group with the participation of academic experts and the national government, and after repeated discussions, we have now compiled a draft of the project plan. The proposed project will connect Tokyo to Ariake and Tokyo Big Sight Station. The distance is approximately 6.1 kilometers, and we have proposed seven stations, routes, and station locations. The names of the stations are all tentative. The opening of this subway line will improve the convenience of the Harumi athletes’ village site and the Tsukiji area, and will further enhance the appeal of this unique city,” she said.
There are seven stations: Tokyo, Shin-Ginza, Shin-Tsukiji, Kachidoki, Harumi, Toyosu Market, and Ariake/Tokyo Big Sight (all tentative locations)
Tableware Festival is scheduled to take place at the Tokyo Dome for 10 days from January 27 to February 5, 2023.
It is the first time in three years since 2020 that the event will be held at the Tokyo Dome; approximately 250,000 people, mostly female fans in their 30s and 40s, attended the event in 2020.
In addition to popular Japanese brands such as Christofle and Bernard, the overseas area titled Galerie de Paris – Touring Paris, will introduce brands that are rarely seen in Japan, such as Degrène and Marie d’Agde. The domestic production area will include Arita-yaki porcelain which has evolved beautifully over its 400-year history, including the Kakiemon style, which spread the appeal of Japanese overglaze enameling to the world, white porcelain, underglaze blue porcelain, and celadon porcelain.
The Celebration Champagne – The Glass Brilliance project will also be held to present a selection of Japanese and Western glassware along with crystal tableware to coordinate with the special scene.
In addition to the new Tea Garden, where you can enjoy your favorite tea in your favorite cup in a tea garden filled with greenery, there will also be a special program 30 Years of History which will exhibit and introduce the production regions in Japan under different themes.
Online events will also be held simultaneously, offering content that allows visitors to enjoy the exhibition more deeply at the venue, as well as the opportunity to experience the charm of the Tableware Festival before and after their visit, regardless of time or location.
On November 1, Ghibli Park opened in Nagakute City, Aichi Prefecture, as a part of the Aichi Expo Memorial Park (Moricoro Park).
Tickets go on sale on the 10th of each month and are reserved by date and time for each area.
Ghibli Park shows the world of Studio Ghibli, created at the Expo 2005 Aichi – Japan Commemorative Park (Moricoro Park).
There are no big attractions or rides, but just a place to walk, feel the wind and discover the secrets of the forest and roads as they are.
The first part of the park opened with The Great Warehouse of Ghibli, The Hill of Youth and Dondoko Mori. The Great Warehouse of Ghibli is an indoor facility filled with exhibits of Ghibli’s works, both large and small. It is said to include robot soldiers, a cat bus, soft child-sized items, and a number of secret works.
Furusato Matsuri Tokyo 2023 – Japanese Festival, Taste of Home will take place at Tokyo Dome for 10 days from January 13 to 22, 2023.
In the past, Furusato Matsuri Tokyo has attracted a total of more than 4.4 million visitors to date but was canceled in 2021 and 2022 due to the effects of COVID-19. This year, the 13th edition of the festival will be held for the first time in three years.
The 12th National GOTOCHI DONBURI Championship will feature the finest local donburi from all over Japan. Visitors can compare and vote for their favorite bowls, and 14 bowls will compete for the No. 1 position. Hachinohe silver mackerel toro zuke-don (Aomori Prefecture) and nodoguro donburi (Shimane Prefecture), which won the Grand Prix twice in the past championships, will be exhibited in the Hall of Fame.
Nigiwai Market will showcase more than 300 delicacies from all over the country, with a wide range of foods from A-grade gourmet such as seafood (sea urchin, salmon roe, etc.) and brand beef to traditional dishes and local noodles for visitors to enjoy.
During the Furusato Matsuri Tokyo, a total of more than 50 local characters including Funassyi, Akkuma and Nyango Star will make appearances.
Admission tickets with seating will also be sold to enjoy the event at a leisurely pace, taking advantage of the new seats installed as a result of the renovation of the Tokyo Dome.
