Non-Residential Wooden Architectural Fair in Tokyo
The Canada Wood Tokyo office recently visited the “Non-Residential Wooden Architectural Fair” held at the Tokyo Big sight from May 30-31. This fair was part of a larger comprehensive exhibition of 5 shows about housing, architecture and real estate that included separate shows about rental housing management, condominiums, and the single-family housing business. This year there were 14,170 visitors during the 2-day show.
With the increasing focus in the wood industry on the non-residential construction segment, it was very positive to hear from the organizers that the number of exhibitors at this year’s show was up 30% over last year. There were wood construction companies we are familiar with such as Mitsui Home, Mitsubishi Estate Housing Center and Polus Tec, as well as large engineered wood manufacturers Meiken and Wood One with booths at the fair. Of particular note was the growing number of large general contractors also exhibiting, including Takenaka Komuten, Tokyu Construction, and Maeda Kensetsu, who we worked closely with several years ago to incorporate NLT produced with SPF lumber in the Tokyo University of the Arts International Exchange Center (see Feb 2023 article: https://canadawood.org/canada-wood-japan-releases-nlt-case-study-video/). We have been strategically increasing our market outreach to these types of companies to promote the qualities of Canadian wood products so it was encouraging to see them actively marketing in this segment.
For next year’s show the organizers plan to move to the larger Big Sight East Hall, target a 50% increase in the number of exhibitors, and hold the show over 3-days, reflecting the continuing expectations for growth of this segment.
