Promote Japan exhibition industry with leading facilities

Celion Su

Editors note： Strategically located in the economy center of the city of Tokyo， Tokyo Big Sight is Japans largest and one of the busiest venues and will proudly host the UFI Asia-Pacific Conference in 2019.

Reporter： Please kindly introduce the facilities and business in your venue.

Ishihara： Tokyo Big Sight was opened in 1996 and and is Japans largest purpose-built exhibition center. Now it hosts 300 events per year， welcoming 15 million visitors.

In terms of facilities， the East and West Exhibition Halls include 12 halls with a total floor space of 95，420 sqm， are engineered to support a broad range of exhibitions and events. The South Exhibition Halls with a floor space of 20，000 sqm are now under construction and will be open in July， 2019. In addition， there is the Reception Hall and 22 other conference rooms of various sizes and are linked effectively to the Exhibition Halls. Among these the Conference Tower is the landmark and the International Conference room having a capacity of 1，000 people.

Apart from renting spaces， Tokyo Big Sight also organizes 5 trade shows of its own including JIMTOF in the machine tools sector. They are 80，000 square meters in total each year and are UFI approved events. Sometimes we also organize Japanese pavilions to foreign exhibitions.

Reporter： How do you find competition with other venues？

Ishihara： Compared with other venues in Japan， Tokyo Big Sight has sufficient venue space and this puts us in an advantageous position. In addition， the fame of Tokyo as an internationally renown tourism and economy center also helps to attract lots of events here. Overall speaking， our occupancy rate is very high. We mainly host exhibitions， but in recent years， we also see that the number of corporate events is rising rapidly. We are the member of international exhibition association such as UFI and IAEE and enjoy good fame within the industry.

In accordance with customers need， we started to offer free WIFI since 3 years ago. To cater for the needs of religious people， we have recently set up prayer rooms and halal food is offered in the venue.

Reporter： What is the role of exhibition industry in the Japanese economy？

Ishihara： The Japanese Government encourages the export of SMEs， and provide financial support for Japanese companies to participate in exhibitions in other countries. Within the country， the government also encourages the development of the exhibition industry and in most cities， local venues are invested and owned by the government. In the case of Tokyo Big Sight， the venue is owned by the Tokyo Municipal Government and operated by us. In 2020， Tokyo Big Sight will be used a the Media Center for the Olympic Games to support the event.

Reporter： Japan has clean environment. How about the sustainability and talent cultivation in the industry？

Ishihara： Like in other places， we are still on the way of becoming a highly sustainable venues in daily operation procedures. In regards of human resources， internally， we are stepping up in staff training. The universities in Japan offer exhibition courses but many young people think that the exhibition industry requires hardworking so they need more encouragement to enter the exhibition industry.

Reporter： As the host of the 2019 UFI Asia-Pacific Conference， how would you prepare for the event？

Ishihara： This is the first time that Japan will be hosting UFI conference and we are very excited. Meanwhile， with no precedent experience in hosting such event， we are a little bit nervous， and we will communicate with previous hosts in other countries such as Kuala Lumpur of this year， so that we can present a memorable event for the delegate！