Japan Expo Paris 2022 “WABI SABI Pavilion” Event Report [Breaking News]

Everything at its greatest scale!
“21st Japan Expo” opens
～Enthusiasm for the first time in 3 years～

Europe's largest Japanese event forced to miss 3 years due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic”Japan Expo Paris -Japan Expo-” finally returned to Paris, France in 2022/7. Expectations from Japanese fans all over Europe, who had been waiting impatiently for the event for a long time, were tremendous, and even though it was in the advance ticket stage, the number of visitors was expected to be on par with the previous one, which was the largest, and it attracted a great deal of attention from various quarters since before the opening of the season.

And that prediction came true perfectly! On the day of the event, the largest number of people visited the venue for various booths such as crafts, art, manga, anime, games, movies, martial arts, etc., and the largest number of people ever visited the same event. (Currently, we are waiting for the organizer to announce the exact number of visitors now or now)

In this report, it is the largest pavilion within the same event as a [bulletin edition]”WABI SABI” We will focus on the booth.

Japan Expo Paris 2022 -Japan Expo-Duration: 4 days from 2022/7/14 (Thu) to 7/17 (Sun) Venue: Paris, Nord Villepinte Exhibition Hall＞＞Japan Expo Paris Official Homepage

The 12th year of the event was the largest scale and sales amount ever!
Disseminating “authentic Japanese culture” to the world
Pavilions”WABI SABI”

▼ Pavilion management carried out with full effort
According to the Japan Promotion Association,”Japan Expo Paris -Japan Expo-“The largest pavilion in the house (1500 square meters) conveying Japanese traditions and regional culture”WABI SABIOperates”. The theme for the 12th year is “Ukiyo,” a Japanese view of life, and together with 79 exhibition booths and 16 performing groups, we are strongly disseminating surprisingly diverse Japanese content to Japanese fans! The total number of people involved who traveled from Japan to support this pavilion has risen to over 200 people.

▼ Even if the unit price of good quality products is high
The sales value at the exhibition booth recorded double the record high. This time, in particular, there were only booth products and products that had cleared strict exhibition standards by our corporation, so sales of products with higher unit prices than usual have been strong. Products that demonstrated “craftsmanship” by Japanese artists and craftsmen were selling like flying.

▼ There is also a moment of joy at the reunion after 3 years
”WABI SABI” The characteristic of the pavilion is that it has many repeat visitors. More than half of the people every year have visited at least once in the past. Nonetheless, since it was the first time the event was held in 3 years, there were concerns about attracting customers, but that was also unfounded! Not only did many people come to the venue, but at one booth, a person who had bought it at the same booth 3 years ago visited again and reported how they were using the product at home along with photos. Visitors asked the venue staff, “Where is this person who came last time?” Many inquiries such as these have also been received.

The venue was very excited and made into a frenzy!
Watch the beautiful stage performance ♪

This time, too, many unique and diverse artists performed on the ART, SAKURA, ICHIGO, and TSUBAME stages produced by our corporation, making the venue very exciting.

▼ ART STAGE & SAKURA STAGE

WABISABI PAVILIONVarious unique and beautiful performances will be held on the ART stage located in the center of the front and the SAKURA stage located right next to it ♪

▼ ICHIGO STAGE

On the ICHIGO stage, the former Megadeth guitarist “Marty Friedman” will perform in a dream competition with KAGURAMOU. Of course, guitar tech from yesteryear is still alive and well!

The performance of “Sakakura Katsumi x KIRIE” attracted particular attention. Beautiful, stylish, yet out of place... It was a breathtaking stage that expressed Japan's sense of beauty.

Disseminating traditional crafts from Tokyo to people around the world!
First exhibition at the “Tokyo Handicraft” project booth

At this event”WABI SABI“A Tokyo project that shines light on traditional crafts within the pavilion and conveys the appeal of the delicate “handiwork” of craftsmen to the world”Tokyo handicraft” was exhibited for the first time with a total of 29 business booths. People from the Tokyo Small and Medium Business Promotion Corporation, which oversees this project, also traveled and worked together with businesses to promote sales. There were also results, and the sales amount at each booth was a surprising number.

▼ Achieved 1.5 times the target sales amount!
“How are traditional crafts from Tokyo evaluated in Paris, the center of France?” Market research elements were also strong at this exhibition, but the results proved that if it is a well-made, high-quality product, such as opening the box, crafts worth 100,000 yen or more will be contracted on the day, so if it is a well-made, high-quality product, it can be used worldwide. The sales amount is 1.5 times higher than the target.

▼ Discover demand for diverse traditional crafts
On the day of the event, various traditional crafts representing Tokyo, such as cutouts, woodcut dolls, silverware, braids, metal carvings, lacquerware, cloisonne, lanterns, handwritten yuzen, Tama weave, hand planting brushes, etc., decorated the booth, and visitors were glued to their beauty and high performance. Also, understanding of the SDGs has penetrated deeply in France, and environmentally-friendly products such as eco bags were receiving a great deal of attention.

▼ Impressive Craftsman Performances
On the stage inside the booth, the craftsmen themselves climbed onto the stage and demonstrated product PR and production processes. I was once again surprised by the high level of interest in traditional Japanese technology, as many people who watched the demonstration received enthusiastic questions over and over again.

Other than that, in Japan Promotion, thisJapan Expo Paris -Japan Expo-During the event, we supported various measures aimed at connecting the products of each business operator to local sales (wholesale). In fact, they both visited stores in Paris that sell traditional Japanese crafts, and heard directly about how they came to handle those products and points when selling them within France. We also gather local buyers, give presentations by the businesses themselves, and then manage business meetings on the spot. Furthermore, even for businesses that did not travel, real-time business negotiations were realized using video meetings (Zoom). Although it is a place for business meetings, there are also happy events where buyers sell products for themselves on the spot!

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Famous YouTubers
Instagrammers and French media are coming one after another!

Various guests who love Japanese culture visited during the exhibition, such as multiple local media, Instagrammers with followers around the world, and buyers.

▼20minutes
https://www.google.fr/amp/s/m.20minutes.fr/amp/a/3326135

▼Journal du Japon
https://www.journaldujapon.com/2022/07/25/japan-expo-2022-petit-bilan-dun-grand-retour

I've told you about the “Japan Expo Paris 2022 -Japan Expo-” event report [bulletin version], but these 4 days of enthusiasm! passion! I hope it has reached everyone's heart even a little bit. We'll see you again next time in this release article. Au revoir (Au revoir) ♪

Consultations and requests for materials regarding 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 shortly.
◎ Addressee: 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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