The Tokyo International Anime Fair also known as was one of the largest

anime is hand-drawn and computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japanese, (a term derived from a shortening of ...

trade fair A trade fair, also known as trade show, trade exhibition, or trade exposition, is an exhibition organized so that companies in a specific industry can showcase and demonstrate their latest products and services, meet with industry partners and ...

s in the world, held annually in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

, Japan. The first event was held in 2002 as "Tokyo International Anime Fair 21". The event was held at

Tokyo Big Sight , officially known as , is a convention and exhibition center in Tokyo, Japan, and the largest one in the country. Opened in April 1996, the center is located in the Ariake Minami district of on the Tokyo Bay waterfront. Its most iconic feature ...

, a convention and exhibition center in

Tokyo Bay is a bay located in the southern Kantō region of Japan, and spans the coasts of Tokyo, Kanagawa Prefecture, and Chiba Prefecture. Tokyo Bay is connected to the Pacific Ocean by the Uraga Channel. The Tokyo Bay region is both the most populous ...

, in late March. Usually, the first one or two days of the fair were weekdays and the entrance was open only to industry members and the press; the last two days were scheduled on the weekend and the fair was open to the public. Besides being an international trade fair, the TAF included related events such as business symposia and other events. Notably, the

Tokyo Anime Award The Tokyo Anime Awards started in 2002, but was named in 2005. The first, second and third award ceremonies were simply named 'Competition'. The award ceremonies were held at the Tokyo International Anime Fair (TAF) until 2013. In 2014, after th ...

s were given for domestic and foreign creations and creators in the event with the name of the event. The event was supported by the Bureau of Industrial and Labor Affairs of Tokyo. Although the event did not have a long history, it and its prizes were recognized in the industry. In 2014, it was merged with the Anime Contents Expo to form

AnimeJapan AnimeJapan is a Japanese anime consumer show held for the first time at the Tokyo Big Sight exhibition center in Tokyo, in March 2014. It was created from the merger of the Tokyo International Anime Fair with the Anime Contents Expo. It is organ ...

Event history

This table shows the number of visitors and participants:

Official theme song

2011 event

In December 2010 a group of ten large manga publishers known as the announced plans to boycott the 2011 event. The boycott was in protest at revisions to the Tokyo Youth Development Ordinance that increased regulation of manga and anime sales to under-18 year olds. This was seen as a deliberate snub of

Shintaro Ishihara was a Japanese politician and writer who was Governor of Tokyo from 1999 to 2012. Being the former leader of the radical right Japan Restoration Party, he was one of the most prominent ultranationalists in modern Japanese politics. An ultra ...

, who was closely associated with both TAF and the changes to the law. Japanese Prime Minister

Naoto Kan is a Japanese politician who was Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) from June 2010 to September 2011. Kan was the first Prime Minister since the resignation of Junichiro Koizumi in 2006 to serve for ...

had expressed concern about the impact of the boycott and urged the parties involved to work towards resolving the situation. Due to the devastating earthquake and tsunami that hit the northeast coast of Japan on March 11, 2011, it was announced five days later, that the 2011 event would be canceled. In addition, Tokyo Big Sight, where the event was held annually, suffered unspecified damage during the quake in the Tokyo area.

References

External links

Tokyo International Anime Fair official site
(Japanese)
Tokyo International Anime Fair official site
(English)

Convention reports

"Tokyo International Anime Fair"
by Jon Tarbox, Anime News Network, 3 April 2003
"Tokyo International Anime Fair 2006"
by Kat Avila, ''Sequential Tart,'' April 2006

by

Virginia Heffernan Virginia Heffernan (born August 8, 1969) is an American journalist and cultural critic. Since 2015, she has been a political columnist at the ''Los Angeles Times'' and a cultural columnist at ''Wired (magazine), Wired''. From 2003 to 2011, she w ...

, ''New York Times,'' 2 April 2006
"Tokyo International Anime Fair 2010 at Tokyo Big Sight"
by Kanako, musicJAPANplus, Tokyo, 6 April 2010 {{coord, 35, 37, 50, N, 139, 47, 42, E, type:landmark_source:kolossus-frwiki, display=title 2002 establishments in Japan 2013 disestablishments in Japan Defunct anime conventions Recurring events established in 2002 Recurring events disestablished in 2013 Annual events in Japan Culture in Tokyo Trade fairs in Japan Tourist attractions in Tokyo