Japan Expo, 20 years of fun facts: 16th 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. Today brings us to the 16th Impact, a memorable edition when Mario’s dad, Shigeru MIYAMOTO, was the highlight of the festival!
On July 2-5, 2015, more than 247,000 attendees got together to celebrate Japanese culture and Japan Expo kept on developing the themes cherished by the public. For the first time, the festival featured an area dedicated to Japanese gastronomy, listed as World Heritage by UNESCO: the Washoku corner.
The festival also becomes a springboard for young Japanese artists, including Umi-kun, who will come back the following years.
Beside Shigeru MIYAMOTO, the Guests of Honor are Ken AKAMATSU, the mangaka of Love Hina, Yoshiyuki SADAMOTO, the chara-designer of Neon Genesis Evangelion, and VAMPS, the famous J-rock group.
A striking experience
A crowd of fans attended and couldn’t wait for the sacred monster of video games, Shigeru MIYAMOTO. During the masterclass held by Mario’s creator, with the producer of Super Mario Maker, Takashi TEZUKA, and the designer of Splatoon, Tsubasa SAKAGUCHI, as special guests, the team of Nintendo asks Jean-François Dufour and Thomas Sirdey, the President and Vice-President of Japan Expo, to come on stage to launch the event, which remained engraved in the latter’s memory: "Being on stage was like a slap in our faces. We experienced the cheers of 12,000 people, for a minute, we discovered what it feels like to be a rock star."
Japan Expo 16th Impact key figures
4 days · 247,473 attendees · 135,000 sqm · +200 guests · 17 showcases and concert · 133 traditional artists · +16 hours of J-music live · 700 sqm dedicated to Japanese arts and crafts with Wabi Sabi · 485 staff members
In 2016, Japan Expo met again with Umi-kun and the collaboration with the Japanese youtuber was to go on: follow our news for more information a few days!
Click the links for a look back over:
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