[Taipei International Animation Festival 2018 Event Report] Local Characters Make Great Contributions to Regional Contributions and Japan-Taiwan Friendship

Taipei International Animation Festival 2018
‍Period: 5 days from 2018/2/1 (Thu) to 5 (Mon)
Venue: Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center (Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center)
Organizer: China Animation Publishing Industry Association Sponsor: Ministry of Culture (Taipei City Government)
≫Taipei International Animation Festival official website

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Taiwan, the number one pro-Japanese country in the world, is a priority region

Taiwan is one of the countries with the highest level of “Japanese fever.”
According to a survey by the Taiwan Ministry of Transportation and Tourism Bureau in 2016, it is said that 1 in 5 Taiwanese people visit Japan once a year. This is an extremely high ratio compared to other countries; for example, South Korea has 1 in 10 people, and China only has 1 in 200 people.
In particular, due to the impact of the rapid increase in Japanese companies' expansion into Taiwan from around 2010, cultural content such as Japanese food, fashion, pop culture, etc., and Japanese products such as IT services and home appliances are now integrated into the lives of Taiwanese people and are used regularly.
Taiwan, which has strong trust in Japanese brands and is one of the world's leading pro-Japanese countries, has become the number one priority region for business development throughout Asia.

5c50e3cb23adab47c474f795e57475e7_s — Jiufen, the town that was the model for Hayao Miyazaki's film “Spirited Away”

Taipei City also has a major attraction called the National Palace Museum, the largest national museum in the Republic of China

The bustling Raohe Street Night Market. Taipei's gourmet spots you'll want to visit again and again

400,000 people were mobilized in 5 days, and the number of visitors to the Japan Pavilion increased by 152% compared to the previous year

The “Taipei International Animation Festival” is one of Asia's largest pop culture festivals, bringing together the latest technologies such as animation, comics, fashion, games, and IT from around the world.
This year 2018, it was held for 5 days from 2/1 (Thu) to 5 (Mon), and 400,000 people visited not only from Taiwan, but also from Hong Kong, mainland China, and other Asian countries.
After all, Japanese content is the most popular. At the Japan Pavilion “ICHIBAN JAPAN,” the stage and booths were very exciting, and the number of visitors to the pavilion recorded a 152% increase compared to the previous year. It was reported by many local media before and after the exhibition.

[Main publication media]
NowNews (1/15)/Central News Agency (January 17)/Now News (1/25)/Sina Shimbun (1/26)/ETtoday (1/30)/Focus Taiwan (as of 2/1) *Japanese article/China Times (February 1)/Now News (2/1)/Central News Agency (February 1)/Now News (2/1)/NEWTALK (2/2)/Youth Daily (February 2)/China Times (February 6)/Business Times (2/6)/China Times (February 6)/China Times (February 6)/China Times (February 6)/Chūten TV (2/6)/Business Times (February 6)/Taipei Navi (February 8) *Japanese article

The main stage of the Japan Pavilion is always full

Of course, those Japanese characters that drive the world into a frenzy are also familiar!

Taiwan's character boom heats up

I can't stop the shutter sound everywhere the local Japanese characters go!

Taiwan is now experiencing an unprecedented character boom.
The fact that “Kumamon” from Kumamoto Prefecture participated in 2017, and “Funassyi” from Funabashi City, Chiba Prefecture participated in this Taipei International Animation Festival in 2016, and it quickly became a hot topic of conversation.
At Japan Promotion, we received an invitation from the “Anime Publishing Industry Cooperative Association” hosted by the event, and have now participated for the first time, selected local characters that are popular both domestically and internationally, and supported efforts to disseminate the appeal of each local government and region.
The characters selected this time are 5 regional groups working on inbound business with a view to aggressively expanding into the Asian market.
“Shinjo-kun” from Susaki City, Kochi Prefecture, “Ieyasu-kun” from Hamamatsu City, Shizuoka Prefecture, “Mikke-chan” from Hirakata City, Osaka Prefecture, “Tochisuke” from Tochigi City, Tochigi Prefecture, and “Yuzu Gappa” from Naka-cho, Tokushima Prefecture, are all majors who have already achieved success in Paris and London, etc., and made a big breakthrough throughout the venue, such as stage shows and tourism PR.

IMG_8851_R — “Mikke-chan” in Kuzuha Shopping Street in Hirakata City, Osaka Prefecture and “Shinjo-kun” in Susaki City, Kochi Prefecture. It was so incandescent that it was very crowded

People wearing special sun visors from “Tochisuke” in Tochigi city, Tochigi prefecture are inside the venue

“Yuzugappa” in Naka-cho, Tokushima-ken. The fan service after the stage was also excellent!

“Ieyasu-kun” from Hamamatsu City, Shizuoka Prefecture, also grasped the hearts of Taiwanese beauties. Learn about the appeal of Hamamatsu and are motivated to visit Japan

I met Mr. “Hustle Komon” (second from left) from Ibaraki prefecture, who participated in a separate frame. Everyone became best friends because of this

A local Japanese character who had a strong presence

The opening ceremony, the moment the tape was cut. Characters from the left: “Manbao (Mambao)” from the Taipei International Animation Festival, “Chloro” from Tigerair, “Shinjo-kun” from Susaki City, Kochi Prefecture, and “Kumasan Bravo” from Taipei City

At the opening ceremony on the first day, along with official Taiwanese characters such as “Manbao (Mambao)” of the Taipei International Animation Festival, “Chloro” of the airline company Tigerair representing Asia, and “Kumasan Bravo” in Taipei City, Shinjo-kun from Susaki City also acted as the main cast, so it was the beginning where local Japanese characters all attracted attention.

DSC_0959_R — “Shinjo-kun” from Susaki City, Kochi Prefecture and “Kumasan Bravo” from Taipei City exchange friendly handshakes

Mr. Arakawa Fukazatsu, the president of the Japan Local Character Association, visited

On the main stage of the Japan Pavilion, in addition to the excitement of live idol groups and talk shows with famous anime voice actors, joint shows with adorable cooperative play by local characters and a corner introducing each region attracted many enthusiastic fans every day.
The mini stage, which was also popular as a spot for taking commemorative photos, was a great success, and many fans asked for photos and hugs, and we received a welcome full of smiles.
Also, Mr. Arakawa Fukazatsu, the president of the “Japan Local Character Association,” who had come to inspect, also gave words of encouragement, and the voltage is now at its peak.

Mr. Arakawa, president of the “Japan Local Character Association,” which bundles characters from all over the country, encourages inbound activities in Taiwan

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Close contact with visitors, SNS effects, Japan-Taiwan friendship... deepening bonds of friendship

Even after the stage was over, visitors who were completely fascinated visited the booth, and further interaction continued.
“I never knew there was such a wonderful place in Japan!” There were various responses, such as those who brought back many tourist pamphlets, those who were surprised by their first taste at the tasting corner and chewed the deliciousness, and those who enthusiastically asked questions about Japanese culture.

Tochigi city booth. In addition to the popularity of the Tochisuke sun visor, PR videos and tourist attraction panels attracted a lot of visitors

Mikke-chan shows off the appeal of the Kuzuha shopping district in front of the booth

A tasting corner for Kito yuzu products, a specialty of Naka-cho, Tokushima-ken. Interest in Japanese food is also high

Tastings of soy sauce and bonito from Susaki City are also very popular

DSC_0840_R — Hamamatsu booth. Many people showed great interest in tourist pamphlets, and there were also visitors who asked enthusiastic questions

They also very actively cooperated with the questionnaire asking about their interest in Japan

The fact that hundreds of new fans at the venue became followers of each character on SNS was also a huge benefit. All forms of development are expected, such as organic connections unique to social networks, enhancing brand power in various parts of Japan and discovering new appeal.

Each region has gained a large number of SNS followers. As far as Susaki City was reached, it was the result of over 700 people!

Visitors who scan a QR code with a smartphone and access SNS

Also, in the middle of the night the day after the exhibition ended, a major earthquake hit in Taiwan.
The 5 groups that mentioned this time were also the first to send cheers to Taiwanese people through SNS, and “#Taiwan come on (Taiwan good luck/good luck)” was tweeted by followers one After another, and the strong bond between the two countries were divided.

＞＞Tech Insight (February 7)
＞＞Sankei Shimbun (2/12)

The “Taipei International Animation Festival” is an important stage that cannot be required anywhere else in terms of regional participation through Japan's unique local character culture, Future discussions such as considering in-band customers based in Asia, and friendship between Japan and Taiwan.

Next year, in fiscal 2019, we will work to further enhance the pavilions in order to propose the appeal of all parts of Japan.
Please stay tuned.

Subsequent and Requests for Materials Subsequent Exhibitions are being accepted at any time

Please contact us using the form below or via the “Contact Us” email form. The person in charge will reply to you

◎ To: Japan Promotion Association Japan Expo Exhibition Office
◎ Address: 4th Floor, Ebina Building, 6-18-10 Jingumae, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150-0001
◎ Telephone: 03-5766-2450/Fax: 03-5766-2451
◎ Email: info@japanpromotion.org

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