Japan Expo 2010

Impressive, right? And it's only half of one of two event halls used for Japan Expo. Total attendance for Japan Expo 2010 is expected to reach 180,000 unique attendees. Comparatively speaking, Anime Expo is believed to have had approximately 50,000 unique attendees, and San Diego Comic Con expects 130,000 unique attendees.

In order to handle the huge crowds, Japan Expo has set aside a third huge convention hall so that fans can line up out of the sun or rain. The SNCF (France's rail company) has also added additional commuter trains to the convention center.

Fans still have to spend some time in the sun, but the lines are fast moving.

This is one of the reading areas at Shueisha's "Club Seinen" pavilion. Several Japanese companies had their own booths, but this was the most impressive, with sections dedicated to GUNNM: Last Order, Gantz, Zetman and other titles.

Shueisha's Club Seinen

Part of Shueisha's Club Seinen Pavilion

Natsuna, the actress portraying Kei Kishimoto in the upcoming live-action Gantz adaptation was on hand to sign autographs at the Shueisha Club Seinen Pavilion, in costume. Photos however were not permitted.

In addition to company booths, several companies also had separate booths for some of their titles. Ki-oon, the local distributor of Pandora Hearts, is one of France's smaller anime companies, but they go all-out at Japan Expo.

Licensors like Akita Shoten also set up smaller booths of their own.

Naruto is France's #1 manga, selling over 100,000 copies of each new volume.

A lot of cultural stands such as this one were set up.

Activities for all ages included Japanese calligraphy lessons.

Other activities included Japanese archery and martial arts demonstrations and lessons. Representatives from Otakon who were present explained that the martial arts lessons would never be possible in the United States due to liability issues.

Tsukasa Hojo poses with a fan.

Another fan showing his autographed Tsukasa Hojo sketch (the sketch is a reproduction).

Noémie Alazard - The presenter of Ultra Manga gives autographs to fans. Ultra Manga airs weekly on MCM, a cable-TV station that focuses on manga (and anime), music, video games and "Glisse".

Guest of Honor Noriyuki Iwadare, video game music composer for Grandia and other video games, signs autographs.

One of the happy fans who received autographs from Iwadare and Iwadare's band.

Last year the Atsu Atsu stand had 4 chefs and served tako (octopus) balls to thousands of clients who stood in line for as much as 90 minutes to get their fix. This year the stand has 6 chefs and expects to serve as many people, but hopes to diminish the waiting time.

If octopus isn't your thing, you can grab some relatively affordable sushi. It's not great, but the wait is only 5 minutes long. Or you can grab a 6 euro (US$8) hot dog at the concession stand.

Why? Why didn't I have the shaved ice??

Anime and sci-fi side-by-side. Although most of the convention center's space is focused on Japan Expo, the weekend is shared with the Paris Comic Con.

The 501st is everywhere.

Festival director Thomas Sirdney is interviewed by M6, a national TV Network.

Yoon Jae-Ho, creator of Metal Heart, signs autographs.

These were the first costumes that Elodie (in black) made. Her costume took about 3 weeks to make, while Aurelie's took two and a half weeks and was completed just in time for the show.

Elodie and Auriel speak live with viewers on Nico Nico Douga. Over 19,000 people are currently watching and have posted over 97,000 comments since this live-broadcast started 191 minutes ago. The Japanese viewers typically compliment the French fans on their cosplay, and ask them questions about which anime they like. The questions, and answers, are translated by Nico Nico Douga staff who are on site.

Legendary Japanese heavy metal band Seikima-II sign autographs.

America's contribution to French manga fan culture. As with North American conventions, the organizers of Japan Expo are trying to discourage signs like these and have had problems with signs bordering on solicitation.

Carlo Levy, the Managing Director of Dybex, displays the Japan Expo Award his company won: Best Release for the Fullmetal Alchemist Collector's Edition. According to Levy, the French anime market is in dire shape, with problems very similar to those faced by the North American market.

Cedric Littardi, the President of Kaze, displays the Japan Expo Award his company won: Best Animated Film for A Summer with Coo. Although Kaze is the market leader, with over 50% of the market share, Littardi describes the French DVD market as "finished." Kaze also distributes manga and, despite being only the seventh largest manga company (based on sales) in France, was recently purchased by Viz Media. For the moment however, the strongest manga titles, Naruto and One Piece, remain with Kaze's competitors, Kana and Glenat.

Japan Expo Award Winners:

Origami, Music and Mahjong are also available.

Kenji Kodama, director of several Detective Conan and City Hunter movies signs autographs.

Tristan, Mikael, Sandra and Barbara on their way to Japan Expo Sunday morning. Tristan, dressed as a Japanese delinquent, managed to catch the attention of the SNCF police with his nunchaku, but after a friendly talk he was told to put them away without any further problem. Fortunately he was willing to pull them out again to pose for this picture.

In addition to travel companies and government organizations, numerous Japanese schools, for language, animation, art, and other subjects are present at Japan Expo.

Of course, it takes more than informative displays to lure Otaku into reading about language schools.

The Francophone SOS Brigade (haruhi.fr) is a fan group launched in France before Haruhi Suzumiya was licensed there. Now, Pika and Kaze, the french publishers of the manga and anime, support the group and pay for the group's booth at Japan Expo.

Guillaume Lebigot, one of the Brigade's founders, says their activities show how fans can work with publishers on legal activities and everyone wins.

The Francophone SOS Brigade also publishes a Haruhi Suzumiya fan-magazine. Perhaps most impressive, the Brigade raised money and arranged to bring Noizi Ito to the French convention Epitanime earlier this year. Ito illustrated Nagaru Tanigawa's nine Haruhi Suzumiya light novels, and her work served as the basis for the character designs in the subsequent anime and manga adaptations.

Her panel was broadcast live in Japan and viewers were able to submit questions via Twitter.

Gamushura Oendan may not have been Japan Expo's #1 draw, but once people experienced one of their official or impromptu performances, they quickly became a crowd favorite. The group parodies school ouendan, which are usually attached to high school or college sports teams.

Pictures don't quite do this group justice.

AnimeLand is the number one selling anime magazine in France.

There are spin-offs suchs as AnimeLand Extra, geared at a younger audience (8-16 vs. AnimeLand's 15-35) and Japan Lifestyle, geared towards women 14-24.

Inside the Kame House

There were large galleries dedicated to the creations of Tsukasa Hojo and Shotaro Ishinomori, two of Japan Expo's guests of honor.

Professional cosplayers from Japan.

The crowd watching a cosplay show. Unlike North American convention centers, most French convention centers like Villepinte do not have large event rooms, so Japan Expo has to hold all its events, panels and screenings in cordoned off areas of the main event halls. It makes for poor acoustics, but the fans don't seem to care.

There's a similar issue for the panels. Japan Expo has significantly less discussion or industry panel programming than North American anime conventions. In fact, there are no industry panels. According to Thomas Sirdney, Japan Expo tried panels in the past, but French fans are less interested in this sort of programming, and even those who attend the panels do not participate with questions and feedback the way North American fans do.

China has been in line for Morning Musume autograph tickets for 90 minutes. There's still 100 people in front of her, and there's a lottery to determine if she can even get the tickets.

Morning Musume arrives for an autograph session.

Musical guests Vivid sign autographs.

Haaaaaardo Gay!!!