KOTRA Holds Hybrid Online and Offline Exhibition Consultations in Japan

[Asia Economy Reporter Kiho Sung] KOTRA announced on the 15th that it started the 'Japan Hybrid Exhibition Consultation Intensive Week' on the 14th in Japan.

The event, which combines online and offline exhibitions, features 48 of our small and medium-sized enterprises. The Japan Regional Headquarters is collaborating with the trade offices in Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, and Fukuoka.

This intensive week was planned to find a breakthrough for exports to Japan as the entry restrictions for our companies into Japan have been prolonged. KOTRA sought a method where on-site and online coexist.

Meanwhile, the regulation limiting simultaneous entry to 5,000 people at events in Japan was eased last month. Exhibitions that were canceled or postponed due to COVID-19 are now being held in a hybrid form combining online and offline.

This intensive week continues for three weeks from the opening of Asia's largest agricultural exhibition, 'Agri Week Tokyo,' on the 14th, to 'IT Week Tokyo' at the end of this month. The exhibition consultation fields cover four industries: agricultural machinery, automobile parts, fashion consumer goods, and IT.

Buyers can visit the online booths of our participating companies in advance to check items and apply for video consultations. On-site at the exhibition, KOTRA acts as an agent for buyer consultations based on samples. KOTRA also coordinates follow-up and in-depth video consultations between Korean companies and Japanese buyers.

Kwon Pyung-oh, President of KOTRA, said, "Considering the large scale of the exhibition industry and Japan's culture that values on-site consultations, the hybrid method will become a new model in the future," and added, "We will leverage the easing of COVID-19 regulations in Japan to revive export opportunities for our companies to Japan."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.