The 8th Anime Festival Asia Singapore was held.

During the daytime, the main stage adjacent to the exhibition hall hosted various contests like cosplay, guest appearances, and screenings of the latest anime. As a new initiative this year, Yoshimoto Kogyo comedians performed at AFA for the first time. Their act, featuring jokes tied to anime familiar to the local audience, delivered deliberately in halting Japanese and English, was impressively well-received by attendees. Many attendees could be seen shouting encouragement and messages in Japanese.

 

While many attendees come for the concerts, the exhibition area adjacent to the main stage also quickly becomes packed with people. Many visitors aim to explore between performances by their favorite artists or content. Others have specific goals: some wait from early morning for booths to open to purchase limited-edition items, while others cosplay as their favorite anime characters to take photos at booth-provided photo spots.

Furthermore, last year's AFA visitor survey questionnaire revealed a high level of interest in "Japan." Compared to the Japan Brand Survey (conducted in Singapore), the results show distinctive figures, partly due to the higher proportion of younger attendees.

・44.3% have visited Japan. Among them, the majority (24.3%) have only been once.

 

・Intention to visit Japan ("Planning to travel within the next year" + "No specific plans yet, but want to go someday") is high at 89.2%. Among these, the majority (59.4%) fall into the "want to go someday" category.

・The most common reason for visiting Japan is "if I can get a long vacation" (64.6%). Other reasons include "if there's an event for my favorite anime or manga" (41.2%), as well as promotional offers and affordable tours to Japan, indicating a tendency to want to visit when there is a perceived financial benefit.

・Regarding what respondents consider "excellent," content-related items like "anime/manga," "cosplay," and "games" rank highly, while "Japanese cuisine" comes in 4th place. Interest is particularly high in "Japanese ingredients" and "Japanese sweets." Compared to the Japan Brand Survey (Singapore), scores are generally higher overall, indicating a high level of appreciation for Japan.

 

■Collaboration with Pixiv

Additionally, we partnered with Pixiv, Japan's leading illustration SNS; Cure WorldCosplay, the world's largest cosplay SNS; and Pixiv, which operates the idol group "Niji no Conquistador." For Cure WorldCosplay, we launched an official page encouraging users to upload photos taken at AFA. On the mini stage, "Niji no Conquistador" held live performances and meet-and-greets. As idols aspiring to become illustrators, cosplayers, voice actors, and choreographers, they share strong affinity with AFA, which centers on anime and anime songs, making them hugely popular with attendees. This event held promise for further penetration of Japanese idol culture.

 

 

Next time, we will host a roundtable discussion with Pixiv Vice President Hirotetsu Nagata, joined by Sean Chin, CEO of SOZO (a co-investor handling the introduction of Japanese pop culture and content locally), and Sachiko Tsuchiya from Zepp Live (handling event planning and production).