More than 75,323 visitors, almost 7 per cent of them from overseas, endured high temperatures (above 30 degrees C) and high humidity (over 70 per cent) to visit Igas 2007 in Tokyo during the first four days of the International Graphic Arts show.
With two more days to run (the show ends Thursday, September 27), organisers are expecting to meet their target of 125,000 visitors overall, with 10,000 of them from abroad. Whilst the organisers and many exhibitors have made a big effort to cater for non-Japanese visitors, there is still much room for improvement if this excellent event is to gain the status it deserves as a truly international event for the printing industry.
Large delegations from both Korea and India were evident, with smaller numbers making the trip across from China which has a multitude of its own well-attended printing and graphic arts shows these days.
Meanwhile, Singapore-headquartered Cyber organised its own tour to Igas of 75 printers from Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia and Heidelberg Australia brought VIP customers up for a tour of Igas and important printing sites in Japan. (Even in the face of strong competiton from local manufacturers, Heidelberg has a strong market share in sheetfed in Japan.)
Whilst most of the major international printing technology manufacturers are represented at Igas, the event is an excellent opportunity to see all the best in print that Japanese innovation and invention has to offer, gathered in one location over short period of time.
Despite being a much smaller event in terms of exhibitor numbers and area than drupa, the exhibits filled the East and West halls of the unusual and spectacularly designed Tokyo Big Sight, in the Odaiba entertainment precinct (which has its own replica of the Statue of Liberty), built as it is on land reclaimed from Tokyo Bay (the landfill used was actually garbage which could not be burned).
Accommodation in Tokyo is a fraction of the price it is in Düsseldorf during drupa and you'll find that prices don't increase just because there's a big event in town. Hardly surprising because, though the event is large by industry standards, it is but a drop in the bucket considering the 35+ million population (2005 estimate) of the greater Tokyo area, which covers some 13,500sq km.
You can get a cold local beer for less than A$3 and a satisfying
Japanese box lunch for less than A$10 and with very competitively
priced airfares to Japan from Australia as well as accommodation ranging from
A$90 to A$150 per night, the cost should be affordable for most printers who want to see Japanese technological innovation at its source.
Access to the site is relatively easy and there is limited accommodation near the Big Sight complex, some of it linked by a monorail which serves the area. Otherwise, most visitors needing accommodation stay further afield, with easy access to nearby JR Kokusai-tenjijo station from the superbly efficient networks of the Tokyo Metro and Japan Railways train systems.
Catering for anticipated Australian visitors, there are many representatives on hand at Igas from Australian graphic arts supply companies, including some of the smaller firms.
And, as happens at printing shows, many deals involving Australian printers are being announced at Igas. One of the earliest to be announced during the show, was the sale of a Komori long perfector to Aster Colour Printing, a family business in Bayswater, Vic.
"Aster has ordered the Komori Lithrone LS1040P long 10-colour, 40" perfector, fully automatic with technotrans ink delivery, " confirms Gerard Wintle, general manager machinery, CPI.
