Japan Expo, 20 years of fun facts: 9th Impact
We keep going over the festival adventure with a few anecdotes taking you behind the scene and celebrating the festival 20th Anniversary. Today, we get to 2008 for Japan Expo 9th Impact.
Japan Expo lasted 4 days that year and took place on July 3-6, 2008. The festival celebrated the 150th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between France and Japan, and highlighted the major figures of the History of Manga, with an exhibit and the coming of Kazuo KOIKE and Gô NAGAI. J-music is also featured through the creation of the JE Live House and the programing of 12 showcases, which showed the growing importance of Japan Expo in the field of J-music in Europe.
Japan Expo reaches a new level
Building on its success, Japan Expo welcomes several Japanese media, including the TV channels NHK or Fuji TV who cover the event. The organizers are invited to the Tokyo Asian Music Market to introduce the event to Japanese record companies.
"The heads of major groups asked us how to develop Japanese music in Europe. Suddenly we felt that we were taken much more seriously", remembers Thomas Sirdey, Vice-President of the festival. A new position which made many Japanese groups attend the festival to benefit from the event media coverage.
Japan Expo 9th Impact key figures
4 days · 134,467 attendees · 90,000 sqm · 381 exhibitors · 190 guests · 2 new stages: the JE Live House which was to become the Karasu Stage a few years later and the Cosplay Stage, the future Kitsuné stage
Japan Expo’s 10th Anniversary is coming next: follow our news for a new story in a few days!
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