Japan

Just returned from 3 days in Japan (thus the slow posting). Attended the annual meeting of JEXA, the Japanese exhibitions industry association. This, like many aspects of business media in Japan, is a field remarkably little known to most international companies. Our research shows that this is the second largest exhibitions market in Asia after China and, by far, the biggest market for business publishing.

I am personally keen to learn more. I wrote a white paper for American Business Media on Japan a couple of years ago and researching it was a real eye-opener. Japan is the biggest economy in Asia by a large margin (still more than twice as big as China). Yet, all the attention is focused on China and India. The Japanese economy was the fastest-growing OECD economy last year. I'll bet there's more to come.

The meeting was held at Makuhari Messe (pictured here from my room at the nearby New Otani Hotel), the major centre located about half way between Tokyo and Narita airport.