Japan Expo 21st Impact postponed to July 15-18, 2021

Hello Everyone,

The French Government has announced last week that big gatherings won’t be allowed before at least mid-July. This means the sanitary situation will not considered safe enough for us to organize Japan Expo in a serene way. Our priority is and always will be the safety of all participants and all attendees. It is not acceptable for us to organize a festival that doesn’t meet all the quality and safety standards of this great experience. Therefore, with all this in mind, we have last week announced our decision to postpone Japan Expo, despite the sadness and the difficulties it generates.

Nevertheless, it is good in those troubled times to see the silver lining and find some certainty. We have been able to lock our dates for next year, and Japan Expo 21st Impact will take place from July 15th to 18th, 2021 at Paris-Nord Villepinte Exhibition Center.

For those among you who have already bought their tickets on our website, we offer the following solutions:

• The automatic transfer of your tickets for Japan Expo 21st Impact in 2021. You will find in your account your new tickets with new dates in the coming days. If you want, and if you can, we can’t emphasize enough how this is the best solution to help us through these tough times.
• Refund of your tickets, with a process that we are still sorting out and will share very soon with you.

For those who bought their tickets through our partner networks, Francebillet, Ticketmaster and Ontours, you can contact them to know their terms. They are there to help you.

These are really hard times for Japan Expo. Indeed, we don’t get any subsidies from either France or Japan. Our revenues are generated solely through sales of booths and the tickets you buy. We organize two events every year, and the one in Marseilles (South of France), occurred right at the beginning of the Covid-19 situation, and already suffered a lot from the restrictions that had to be implemented.

Japan Expo is about 35 staffs working all year long in our office to prepare the show. We work with roughly 900 exhibitors, 80 associations and clubs, 200+ performers and artists, and many, many partners and service providers to make sure that Japan Expo is a success. Last but not least, we can’t overlook the 500+ temp workers and freelancers we hire when the festival comes.

These companies and their staffs, including us, and these freelancers make over 10.000 people that won’t be able to work this summer, for whom the economic impact will be terrible, at a personal level. It is true in France, but also in Japan. Let’s not forget all the artists, exhibitors and partners that have put a lot of effort and sometimes money into preparing their trip to the show and that won’t be able to make it to France, even if their spirit is as strong as ever. Many people rely on Japan Expo!

However we have the nekketsu spirit, which drive shônen characters to always face and overcome their troubles. The situation is dire but, looking back at these 20 years, we’ve been through hard times before and we still stand. We even had to postpone Japan Expo back in 2005. Reasons were widely different of course, but the festival came out of this particular situation bigger and stronger. Thanks to the support of all – team, temps, attendees, service providers, participants, exhibitors – and to our common passion, we will get back on our feet and Japan Expo will be stronger.

We know we can count on the solidarity and the kindness from everyone, at every level. We are the thankful witnesses of the fans’ reactions online, of the energy our team pours in the show, and of the feedbacks from some of our exhibitors and service providers.

In the meantime, Team Japan Expo will take advantage from this extra time to devote all its powers to make sure that Japan Expo 21st Impact will be the great party we are all looking forward to every year.

And for those who don’t want to wait that long, we will meet you at Japan Expo Sud, 12th Wave, from March 5th to 7th, 2021, at the Marseilles’ Exhibition Center, Marseille Chanot, in the South of France.

See you Space Cowboys-and-girls. Prepare your costumes and set up your trip, as we meet up in a few months to party hard. Stay tuned on our social media for content announcements to come.

By then, please stay home and take good care of yourselves and your loved ones.

Sandrine, Jean-François and Thomas, founders of the festival, and the whole team of Japan Expo