From May 27 to 29, Expo ’70 Commemorative Park also known as Bampaku Kinen Park was the center of attention for all seafood lovers.

This event made its debut in Kansai region, showcasing seafood gourmet dishes such as kaisendon (bowl of rice topped with fresh seasonal seafood) and all the highlights of local specialties.

Visitors enjoyed a wide variety of dishes including tuna, salmon, crab, oysters and abalone, as well as many others.

As a part of the program supporting the fishery industry of Fukushima, a special area displaying their best seafood products will be set up as well.

◆Event Outline

SAKANA & JAPAN FESTIVAL 2022

Dates: May 27 (Fri.) to 29 (Sun.), 2022

Venue: Expo ’70 Commemorative Park (Bampaku Kinen Park), Festival Plaza

Admission: 300 yen for a 1-day ticket at the entrance, 250 yen for an advance ticket

*Free for university students and younger

**Food and drink not included in the admission fee

From May 10 to 12, two large events: NexTech Week focusing on DX solutions, and General Affairs, Human Resources, and Accounting Week were held simultaneously at the Tokyo Big Sight.

Total of four exhibitions:

AI (6th AI & Artificial Intelligence EXPO (Spring edition)

Blockchain (3rd Blockchain EXPO  (Spring edition)

Quantum Computers (2nd Quantum Computing EXPO (Spring edition)

and,

1st Digital Human Resource Development Support EXPO (Spring edition)

On display were services and technologies related to deep learning, machine learning, edge AI, natural language processing, image and speech recognition, interactive AI, blockchain technology, quantum computing, etc.

Visitors representing the various industries, including manufacturing, finance, retail distribution, energy, medical, social infrastructure, and logistics were actively involved in business discussions and negotiations.

General Affairs, Personnel & Accounting Week is a trade show for general affairs, personnel, accounting, legal, and management professionals, consisting of 10 specialized exhibitions, focusing on products and services for administrative departments.

This year, the Health Management Expo has made its debut as a part of the trade show as a response to more and more companies starting to focus on areas of health management and reforming work styles.

In just over 2 days, the Nico Nico Chokaigi 2022 attracted more than 96,000 visitors

Organized by Dwango Inc., the “Nico Nico Chokaigi 2022” took place for a total of eight days from April 23 to April 30, 2022 at Makuhari Messe in Chiba, Japan.

Even with the set limitation on the number of visitors in accordance with the anti-coronavirus measures, a total of 96,160 people visited the event in the course of 2 days – April 29 and 30.

The total number of viewers who watched the live broadcast online was 13,891,680 (total for all days from April 23 to 30).

In 2019, the total number of visitors to the venue was 168,248, and the total number of online viewers in 2021 was 17,962,479.

In addition to the decision to hold “Nico Nico Chokaigi 2023” in April next year, it was also announced that a new event will take place in October 2022 – the combination of UGC music submission festival focusing on four genres (VOCALOID, Singing, Dancing, and VTuber) and the live event “ChoParty” which last took place in 2018.

The event started with online projects such as “The VOCALOID Collection～2022 Spring～Supported by Tobu Top Tours” (April 22-25), “ChoSeiyu Festival 2022 Powered by dwango, Supported by Disney Plus” and the first-ever “Utattemita Collection,” a festival of singing submissions.

In-person event at Makuhari Messe began on Friday, April 29, and ended with Sachiko Kobayashi x Yumi Special Fireworks Live at Suwa Lake in Nagano Prefecture, where Sachiko Kobayashi sang in unison with fireworks that shot up 160 meters high, closing the event with an unforgettable performance.

Japan Life Science Week 2022 and Sea Japan 2022, both organized by Informa Markets Japan, took place at Tokyo Big Sight from April 20 to 22.

Japan Life Science Week is an international trade show including multiple international exhibitions from the pharmaceuticals, medical devices, biotechnology, IT and fine chemicals fields.

The composition of the exhibition is as follows:

CPhI Japan (International Pharmaceutical Ingredients and Intermediates Expo)

ICSE Japan (Pharmaceutical Contract Services Expo)

P-MEC Japan (Pharmaceutical Ingredients Equipment and Devices Expo)

bioLIVE Japan (Biopharma Japan)

InnoPack Japan (DDS and Pharmaceutical Packaging Expo)

Medtec JapanElectro MED Japan (Medical Electronics Expo)

Test Kit Japan (Complete Test Kit & Development Expo)

MedTech City (Medical City, Disaster Medical Care & Disaster Prevention Safety Expo)

Smart Health Japan (Medical ICT & Home Healthcare Expo)

Pharma IT & Digital Health Expo

Fine Chemicals Japan

At Sea Japan 2022, an international maritime exhibition that brings together people and technologies involved in the maritime industry, exhibitors introduced their latest technologies and conducted business negotiations. The exhibition was also accompanied by programs such as international conferences and technical seminars, networking receptions, and tours of research vessels.

BAMBOO EXPO 17 by BAMBOO MEDIA took place at the Tokyo Metropolitan Industrial Trade Center Hamamatsucho from May 25 to 26, 2022.

The exhibition was created for interior designers, architects, developers and hoteliers, and showcased interior materials, building materials, and services for space and store design.

One of the exhibitors, furniture brand STELAPOP displayed their products made from upcycled denim scraps and building materials, including the new unique fabric made from a mix of denim and acrylic resin, yet remaining its denim-like look.

The person in charge explained: “This is a newly established brand. We would like more people to know about STELAPOP.”

Nohara Holdings was promoting its “Who” wallpaper brand exhibiting the adhesive-backed PVC sheets that can be applied to walls, furniture, etc. in offices and commercial facilities, and can be ordered in different sizes and colors.

The company has also developed a series of wallpaper designs in collaboration with French and American wallpaper brands.

Live Gear showcased a lighting control system for commercial facilities and offices. This time, they introduced a service to assemble a system that can switch indoor lighting, video and background music at the flick of a switch. The operational status of each facility and the temperature and humidity status by sensors are displayed and visualized on the floor plan. Using a tablet, it is possible to check the status of each device, turn it on and off, and adjust the brightness from a remote location.

A company representative has added “We are at a time when various industries are switching from analog to digital. We would like to share the advantages of digital technology with users in the construction industry.”

After a two-year hiatus due to COVID, the Japan Hobby Show had returned to Tokyo Big Sight for its 46th edition from 27 to 29 April 2022.

Alongside “Handmade MAKERS’ with minne by GMO Pepabo” and “The 15th Hobby Cooking Fair 2022”, the exhibition run for three days.

This year’s theme was “I♡Handmade!” Materials and kits related to handmade goods such as fabrics and beads, apparel, sweets and gourmet foods were gathered in one place.

At the beginning of the opening ceremony, Reiko Ehara, the president of the association, said, “I am happy to finally welcome back the event after three years. Together with companies and individual creators, we would like to make the world of handmade more exciting and appealing than ever!”

The newly established Sustainable Zone introduced products with environmental and upcycling themes, such as recyclable metal origami paper and obidome (obi ornaments made from fabric scraps).

In addition, each booth offered a variety of handmade workshops where visitors could make various accessories from leather and fabric.

Besides other crafts, food from all over Japan such as rice, beer or miso was displayed and made available for sale.

MICE event in Kansai was held on a Japanese-style luxury cruise ship.

On May 18th, the Japanese-style luxury cruise ship Gozabune Atakemaru by Kobe Bay Cruise served as the venue for the “Local Government Expo Forum”.

Hiroshi Ishiguro, professor at the Osaka University Graduate School and producer of the Expo gave a lecture, followed by a number of presentations and discussions from the representatives of the local municipalities.

Organized by RX Japan, Japan Sports Week 2022 took place at Tokyo Big Sight from May 11 to 13, 2022.

The exhibition was aimed at sports teams and athletes, presenting the latest technologies such as VR training and AI analysis, as well as services and related products such as merchandise, uniforms, and stadium equipment. Total of 120 companies exhibited at the show.

Newly added exhibitions were the “Sports Tourism Expo” (examination of training camps, practice environments, and competition venues), the “Sports Facility Expo” (services in arenas and stadiums), and the “Sports Tech Expo” (systems to visualize the condition of professional athletes and technologies to entertain fans).

Azusa Institute of Research (AIR) and PIA jointly introduced their services for stadiums and arenas.

The booths were designed to resemble a soccer player’s locker room, as a promotion of a unique new space and experience in collaboration with town management.

The proposal of the design that gradually increases the number of seats according to the size of the venue was presented with examples of the actual FC Imabari stadium and Kanazawa City’s civic soccer stadium.

Pop-up store ADA LAB GINZA will be open for 4 months from April 22 to August 22, 2022 at Tokyu Plaza Ginza.

On display are the paludariums – aquariums replicating the natural environment with both terrestrial and aquatic elements where the waterscape is enhanced with the combination of carefully selected unique aquatic plants, stones and strategically placed pieces of driftwood.

The pop-up store was created as an introduction to the nature aquariums and as a guide for those, who want to create their very own rainforest at home.

The store consists of three areas:

First, the CASE GALLERY where visitors can select a glass case of the size and design they prefer, then in the GREEN HOUSE choose plants from a wide variety of available greenery including the orchids and insectivorous plants. In addition, there are also rocks, pieces of driftwood, moss and other landscaping items that can be used to set the tone.In the SETTING LAB, visitors will be guided thru the procedure of setting down the layout with tips and tricks explained by a professional.

Workshops for finishing the paludarium, from choosing the case and plants to the details of the interior, will be held every weekday with advance reservations.

A representative of the organizing company noted: “People naturally become attached to things they have actually made with their own hands. For this reason, we created a pop-up store event that also included a workshop. We hope that more people will become familiar with aquatic plants and learn new ways to enjoy aquariums.”

Asia’s largest international food and beverage exhibition FOODEX took place at Makuhari Messe in Chiba for four days from March 8 to 11, 2022.
The organizing committee consisting of 4 organizations included the Japan Management Association (JMA).

This year’s 47th edition featured 1,787 booths from 1,461 exhibitors representing 41 countries and regions (data of February 22) and focused on food trends such as Frozen Foods, Alternative Foods and Foodtech.

Aiming to expand exports of high-value-added Japanese foodstuffs, many products that meet overseas needs were exhibited at the Japanese Food Export Exhibition in Hall 3, including authentic raw ramen noodles that can be stored at room temperature for a long time and are Halal-friendly, gluten-free vegetable gyoza, and transparent soy sauce, which allows for it to be used in Western cuisine.

Quality detectors that use AI to help improve productivity and products that contribute to SDGs initiatives such as the elimination of plastic and reduction of food loss were presented at the At FOODEX TECH zone.

Plant-based meat made from soy, plant-based cheese substitutes, allergy- and gluten-free oat flour, etc. were exhibited in the Alternative Foods and New Ingredients Zone in Hall 6.
The Frozen Foods section featured the expanding appeal of value-added frozen foods, including meal kits, sweets, and products using alternative ingredients.
In addition, the award ceremony of the “Frozen Award” for the best frozen foods, took place in the Hall 6.

Attended by the ambassadors from 26 countries and regions around the world, and related government agencies and organizations, the ribbon-cutting ceremony held for the first time in 3 years marked the post-pandemic recovery and the fresh start for the industry.