Comic Market was held at Tokyo Big Sight from August 13 to 14 with this summer edition taking place for the first time after 3-year hiatus.

The total number of participants for this 100th edition was more than 170,000 people.

The maximum number of visitors per day was determined according to the Tokyo Big Sight’s guidelines and was relaxed from 55,000 (previous event) to 85,000 for this year.

Regarding the wearing of masks, it was announced that masks should be worn indoors but not required outdoor given the fact that social distance is being maintained.

Osaka’s first castle event, Osaka Castle Fest 2022 took place at the Knowledge Capital Congres Convention Center at Grand Front Osaka for three days from August 12 to 14. The event was organized by the executive committee of TVO and Congres.

Osaka Castle Fest was part of the 40th anniversary of TV Osaka celebration.

The decision to hold this event was made against the backdrop of a recent boom in visiting castles alongside a raising number of tourism campaigns and regional events.

Representatives of Kudoyama Sanada Museum, Nara University, Kyoto University of Advanced Science, Tenri University and Hanazono University were presenting on the seminar stage.

Visitors enjoyed valuable talks including the stage appearance of Shogo Imamura, author of the 166th Naoki Sanjugo Prize-winning book, “Saio no Tate”.

In the Osaka Castle Tower Special Exhibition, reproduction materials owned by the Osaka Castle Tower were displayed as well, including full-scale replicas of the demons from the reconstruction tower.

Tokyo Big Sight Ariake Exhibition Hall is set to open in spring 2023

Tokyo Big Sight Inc. announced the opening of the Ariake Exhibition Hall in spring 2023, as a post-use of the Ariake Gymnastics Stadium used for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The project is developed by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government as a part of the promotional program for the small and medium-sized businesses in Tokyo.

The facility is nicknamed Ariake GYM-EX. The name combines the name of the location (Ariake), the history of the facility as a gymnastics stadium (GYMnastics), and the fact that it is an exhibition hall (EXhibition)

SPORTEC 2022 was held at Tokyo Big Sight from July 27 to 29, 2022

Department of Commerce of Jiangsu Hosted The First Online 2022 RCEP International Digital Trade Expo

The administration of the Department of Commerce of Jiangsu held its first online international exhibition 2022 RCEP International Digital Trade Expo (operated by Jiangsu Lianya International Exhibition Co., Ltd.) from July 18 to 27 in the “online-to-offline (O2O)” format connecting online shopping and physical stores.

2,500 companies certified by Jiangsu Province for overseas trade qualities participated in the 10-day Online Expo and 90-day Online Business Meeting and Trade – the platform for business negotiations.

The exhibition area included the following categories:

– Lighting fixtures

– Hardware and building materials

– Automobile and motorcycle parts

– Textiles and apparel

– Large electric appliances

– Miscellaneous goods and gifts

– Medical care products

– Chemicals and agricultural chemicals

– Agricultural products

– Machine tools

The exhibition was held in conjunction with special business meetings, online promotions, online seminars and a number of other related events.

Japan’s largest stationary festival Bunshi Messe will take place in Mydome Osaka from August 2-3, 2022.

After a few years of an online format, this year’s edition will take place as a hybrid.

The event will feature approximately 70 Japanese stationery manufacturers showcasing more than 30,000 items of stationery.

At the venue, there will be workshops at each booth, exhibits of unreleased products, product sales corners of exhibiting manufacturers, and an event to experience the Osaka City Fire Department’s earthquake simulation vehicle.

Additionally, an announcement of the Japan Bunshi MESSE Grand Prize will be made as well. Visitors are invited to participate by voting for the year’s best design and functionality from among the new products launched by the exhibiting paper and paperboard manufacturers the year before and after the exhibition.

The event will also include the 5th Stationery Senryu (a Japanese form of short poetry) contest and lectures by stationery experts.

An online platform will be open to the public for two months, from July 1 to August 31, 2022

◆Event Outline

Bunshi MESSE 2022

Date: August 2 – 3 , 2022

Venue: Mydome Osaka

Admission: Free

Organizer: Bunshi MESSE Council

Interop Tokyo 2022, Digital Signage Japan 2022, and APPS JAPAN 2022 took place at Makuhari Messe for three days until June 17.

This year’s Internet technology event, themed “Innovation and Trust – for the people, by the internet”, brought together 394 exhibitors occupying 1100 booths.

Network infrastructure and security, cloud, and 5G among all other kinds of technologies that are useful to people were set as the main presentation topics.

Yasuaki Oshima, president of NanoOpto Media, and a member of the executive committee commented on recent Internet technology, “Bandwidth is constantly changing, as end users are handling more and larger capacity data. The network should evolve in line with those needs.”

In regards to the event, he said “There is a sense that both visitors and exhibitors have finally regained momentum. Pandemic has accelerated the development of online technology, but it has also re-evaluated the value of the real world. This is a place where you can see the latest machines and technologies in action, including the ShowNet project, which is a regular feature of this exhibition, and I hope you will experience it for yourself.”

The ShowNet project is a network of more than 1,500 machines and services provided by exhibitors, including new products that will be exhibited for the first time ever, as well as approximately 400 top engineers who had built a network throughout the venue.

The theme of this year’s exhibition is “Beyond Assumptions”. In addition to demonstrating the use of local 5G systems, the exhibition also presented a vision of networks five to ten years from now, including a rethinking of the issues involved in the production of networks for video transmission.

A combination of 3 Large-scale events took place at Tokyo Big Sight.

From June 22 to 24, Japan Manufacturing World, International Food Business Week, and Japanese Food Export Expo took place at Tokyo Big Sight

The venue was crowded with many visitors actively engaging in business negotiations and information gathering.

Consisting of nine exhibitions listed below, Japan Monozukuri (Manufacturing) World was designed to contribute to short-term development, productivity improvement, quality improvement, VA/VE, and cost reduction in the manufacturing industry.

■27th Mechanical Components & Materials Technology Expo (M-Tech)

■5th Factory Equipment & Supplies Expo (FacTex)

■34th Design & Manufacturing Solutions Expo (DMS)

■5th Next Generation 3D Printer Expo (AM Japan)

■4th Measurement, Inspection & Sensors Expo (MeasureTech)

■31st 3D& Virtual Reality Expo (IVR)

■5th Manufacturing AI/IoT Expo (AIoTex)

■5th Aerospace Equipment Expo (AeroTech)

■13th Healthcare & Medical Equipment Expo (MEDIX)

The International Food Business Week was focused on food products from all over the world gathered and consisted of three specialized exhibitions for each product category.

■2nd Processed Food EXPO

■2nd WINE & SAKE EXPO (JFEX WINE & SPIRITS)

■2nd MEAT & DAIRY EXPO (JFEX MEAT & DAIRY)

Followed by

■Japanese Food Export EXPO

The 20th edition of the contemporary art fair ART OSAKA 2022 will take place at two different sites: Osaka Central Public Hall and Creative Center Osaka (former site of Namura Shipbuilding Osaka factory), for six days from July 6 to 11, 2022.

The event is organized by the Association for the Promotion of Contemporary Art in Japan (APCA).

The Expanded Section is the newest addition for the 20th anniversary. The title was chosen to reflect the meaning of expansion of the venue, expansion of the artworks, and expansion of the concept of art as a whole.

Utilizing a vast site that once served as a shipyard, the exhibition will bring together works by 17 internationally renowned artists, including Uematsu Keiji and Onishi Yasuaki.

Multiple galleries will share one vast space to present dynamic exhibitions, including Japan’s first large-scale works and installations.

In addition, the exhibition will create encounters with works that transcend the boundaries of the media and take a step beyond the art that the world imagines, such as performance works.

The exhibit of individual galleries will be presented as usual, with a total number of 45 participants.

Exhibiting pieces and works for sale had been selected by the gallerist’s unique aesthetic eye.

An Art Cruise, as well as the shuttle bus, will operate between the two venues for three days during the exhibition.

In addition to historical and architectural introductions, visitors can enjoy the event’s original water journey with art-related commentary.

Back to in-person format after 3-year hiatus, the 13th edition of the Sunshine City Okinawa Mensore Festival will take place from June 1 until June 5 at the Sunshine City complex.

With the goal of promoting Okinawan culture and food, the festival is organized by Sunshine city and the Onna Village tourism association.

The largest up-to-date total of 46 stores selling Okinawan and Okinawa-related goods will be present at the event.

A special Mensore Beer Terrace will be set up as a part of the outdoor venue where visitors can enjoy Orion beer, Okinawan food and a live sanshin (Okinawan traditional three-stringed instrument) performance.

In addition, the 2nd Orion Beer x Snacks Championship will be held to determine the grand prize winner out of the unique Okinawan snacks that go well with Orion beer, from among the products displayed at the festival.

A food and beverage area will be set up inside the exhibition hall.

In order to avoid the crowds, the number of tickets per time slot will be limited.

The number of visitors per slot will be determined in accordance with the venue size limitations.

During the exhibition period, various Okinawa-themed events will be held at various facilities within the Sunshine City complex, including live performances by famous artists from Okinawa such as Misako Koja, DIAMANTES, Ishigaki Yu and THE SAKISHIMA meeting.

On June 4, the NHK Service Center will host a talk show with Ryo Ryusei, one of the stars of the serial TV show Chimu-Dondon.

Another unique to Okinawa food-related special exhibit is Delicious and Amazing Creatures: Gastronomy, Oddities, and Curiosities.

The brightly colored himejakogai (Tridacna Crocea, also known as The Boring Clam) and the high-end gourmet semiebi (Scyllarides squammosus, also known as Blunt Slipper Lobster) will be on display, among others.

In addition, as part of the Coral Project – a coral conservation initiative, some examples of coral reefs will be on permanent display in an aquarium titled Coral Reef Restoration – From the Sea of Onna Village.