Japan Expo is a convention on

Japanese popular culture Japanese popular culture includes Japanese cinema, cuisine, television programs, anime, manga, video games, music, and doujinshi, all of which retain older artistic and literary traditions; many of their themes and styles of presentation can be ...

- the largest of its kind in the world - taking place in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, although it has branched out into a partnership festival - Kultima - and expanded to include some European and US pop culture as well. It is held yearly at the beginning of July for four days (usually from Thursday to Sunday) in the Paris-Nord Villepinte Exhibition Center (the second-largest convention center in France). The attendance has increased steadily over the years, with 2,400 visitors welcomed in the first edition in 1999 and more than 252,510 for the 2019 edition. Like the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

and many other mass gatherings, the 2020 edition was canceled because of the global

COVID‑19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identifie ...

History

The first exposition took place in 1999 at the ISC Paris Business School and welcomed 2,400 visitors, a number which has grown steadily. In 2002, Japan Expo was hosted at the

Center of New Industries and Technologies The Centre of New Industries and Technologies (French: Centre des nouvelles industries et technologies, abbreviated CNIT), located in Puteaux, France, is the first building ever to be developed in La Défense, west of Paris, France. It functions ...

(CNIT) in La Défense, Paris. In 2005, the event was canceled out of security concerns due to the large number of visitors. The exposition has since moved to the larger Exhibition Centre in Paris-Nord Villepinte. In 2020, the event was postponed to 2021 due to concerns of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

Event history

Japan Expo in other cities

Other than the main convention in Paris, Japan Expo has expanded to 4 cities in 3 countries on 2 continents: * **Japan Expo Centre in

Orléans Orléans (;"Orleans"
(US) and Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...

**Chibi Japan Expo in Montreuil * **Japan Expo Belgium in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

* ** Japan Expo USA in

Santa Clara, California Santa Clara (; Spanish for " Saint Clare") is a city in Santa Clara County, California. The city's population was 127,647 at the 2020 census, making it the eighth-most populous city in the Bay Area. Located in the southern Bay Area, the cit ...

References

External links

*
Chibi Japan Expo - Smaller version in November
{{Coord, 48, 58, 20, N, 2, 30, 59, E, type:landmark_source:kolossus-frwiki, display=title Japanese culture Anime conventions Recurring events established in 1999 1999 establishments in France Exhibitions in France Annual events in Paris