Japan Expo, 20 years of fun facts: 6th Impact
Japan Expo is celebrating its 20th Anniversary: let’s make the most of the last weeks of 2019 to highlight the event and show you the evolution of the festival by taking you behind the scenes. Today, we take a look back in 2004 when the 6th Impact took place.
On July 2-4, 2004, Japan Expo took place for the last time at the CNIT before moving somewhere bigger but for the time being, people were filling up the venue to attend this ever-growing event which welcomed for the first time a music guest from Japan, Mana, visual kei icon, former guitarist of Malice Mizer and founder of Moi dix mois.
How to manage lines in all situations
"It was a rubbish time. That’s when Jean-François’s talent as an organizer [Jean-François Dufour, president of the festival] comes in useful, he adjusts to any situation very quickly". If the endless lines outside the venue are a bad memory for Thomas Sirdey, vice-president of the festival, it’s also one of the cult moments of Japan Expo.
Due to the overflowing success of the event, the maximum capacity of the venue is reached by 1.00 pm. Every 15 minutes, the organizers take stock of the situation with the security people who count how many attendees are leaving to allow as many to come in. An epic situation when the team visited the lines to keep the waiting crowds informed and apologize.
Japan Expo 6th Impact key figures
3 days · 41,000 attendees (+ 12,000 compared to 2003) · 15,000 sqm · 131 exhibitors · More than 40 guests · 1,000 sqm dedicated to culture and traditions · 600 sqm featuring video games
We’ll go further to the 7th Impact soon, which was to be held in 2006 after a one-year break that led Japan Expo to its current venue, Paris-Nord Villepinte Exhibition Center: follow our news for a new story in a few days!
Click the links for a look back over:
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