Japan Expo, 20 years of fun facts: 13th Impact
We keep going over the festival adventure with a few anecdotes taking you behind the scene and celebrating the 20th Anniversary of Japan Expo. Back in 2012, the mangaka Naoki URASAWA was the festival Manga Guest of Honor but the sound of his guitar also remained in the fans’ memories.
On July 5-8, 2012, Japan Expo kept on growing and remained the place to be for Japanese culture and entertainment fans, with more and more prestigious guests: Naoki URASAWA, from 20th Century Boys and Monster, was Manga Guest of Honor, beside Haruhiko MIKIMOTO, chara-designer of Macross and Anime Guest of Honor, Keiji INAFUNE, Video Game Guest of Honor and producer of Megaman and Street Fighter IV, Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, kawaii icon and singer, Fashion Guest of Honor, FLOW, Music Guests of Honor who sang the opening of Naruto, and Kohei TANAKA, composer of One Piece music and Anime Music Guest of Honor.
From manga to music is only a quick step
A music fan, the mangaka Naoki URASAWA did not want only signings and conferences when he came to Japan Expo. The creator of Monster proposed to perform a concert on stage. The only problem was to find a group to play with him. Good news: the members of J-pop band Hemenway were attending the festival and are huge fans of the artist.
It all resulted in an explosive and memorable meeting on stage during which they performed T-Rex’s cult song, 20th Century Boy, which had been used by Naoki URASAWA for his manga 20th Century Boys.
Japan Expo 13th Impact key figures
4 days · 219,614 attendees (the 200,000 objective is reached!) · 120,000 sqm · 200 guests · 652 exhibitors · +400 hours of program · 30th anniversary of Macross
We’ll be back soon to talk about the 13th Impact and the logistics of having life size sculptures: follow our news for more information a few days!
Click the links for a look back over:
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