Opening day of InterBEE 2011 hints at a resurgent Japan
Published: ASIA
JAPAN: InterBEE 2011 has opened at the Makuhari Messe, located near Tokyo, with seemingly booming visitor numbers greeting the first day despite a slight drop in the amount of audio exhibitors. The broadcast exhibition is the first major audio industry event to take place in Japan since the events of March 2011 when an earthquake and subsequent tsunami struck Japan, triggering significant hardship for the country in the months that followed.
In spite of the difficulties that Japan has faced this year, the show floor of InterBEE was notable for a buoyant atmosphere on day one, with many exhibitors expressing hopes that the domestic industry is already showing signs of recovery. Also notable was the high level of international attendance with many Western manufacturers having sent representatives to support local distributors. Among those present were Richard Ferriday and David Cooper for Midas, Allen & Heath managing director Glenn Rogers, Ian Staddon of DiGiCo, Meyer Sound’s John McMahon hosting Constellation demonstrations, Calrec’s Henry Goodman, Thomas Mittelmann of Community, Luca Giorgi of Powersoft, and more.
Meanwhile, Genelec’s Lars-Olof Janflod was celebrating the 25th anniversary of distributing reference monitors into Japan with the manufacturer’s partner Otaritec. Also present were Genelec founder Ilpo Martikainen, managing director Siamäk Naghian and marketing director Mikko Tuomi.
Mr Janflod was encouraged by the number of visitors arriving at the show. ‘People-wise it’s been very, very busy,’ he enthused. ‘I’m standing here now and looking out onto the aisle, and I’m seeing a lot of people, which is nice. You can see that the audio section of the show has become smaller than in previous years and the aisles are wider, but there seems to be a very positive atmosphere and there are a lot of people.’
Elsewhere, Bernhard Wuestner of TW Audio, exhibiting with local distributor Graphica and introducing the C15 floor monitor for the first time in Asia, described himself as ‘always excited to be here in Japan for InterBEE. I think in general Japan is now picking up again. For us it’s the second year here at InterBEE and it seems that more and more people are interested in TW Audio. We’re looking forward to these three days and meeting customers.’ The loudspeaker manufacturer is also hosting daily seminars for the C15 monitor on its booth.
Lawo Northeast Asia director of sales Gregor Erlitz was similarly upbeat. ‘My feeling is that compared to InterBEE shows in the past there is a lot of activity going on for the first day,’ he reasoned. ‘I’m really surprised to see this amount of people and it’s very impressive compared to previous shows.’ Located on the Otaritec booth, the console manufacturer was focusing on a new fader layout option for the MC2 66 mk 2, and its Sapphire on-air console complete with meter bridge. ‘We recently sold the first Sapphire in Japan to a radio station so I’m confident that there will be more to follow,’ Mr Erlitz added.
Masaru Oikawa of distributor Onkyo Tokki believed that the morning of the first day was quiet but that the afternoon had made up for any shortfall in numbers. ‘I thought the start was very slow – in the morning we were still waiting for a lot of people to come in,’ he explained. ‘But in the afternoon we have seen many people. We are very happy and there is going to be a lot more people.’ Regarding the broader state of the industry he concluded: ‘The pro audio business is still tough but we have ongoing projects for next year so it’s going to be exciting.’
Echoing that sentiment was Shigeo Makita of Bosch. ‘The first day was pretty good – more customers have come in than last year,’ he commented. ‘This has been a particularly bad year for Japan, many things have happened but people are still looking for business ideas. I’ve met many people who are talking about future plans and exchanging ideas.’
Finally, Shure occupied its own booth at the show for the first time, hosting a popular demonstration of the AXT system (known elsewhere in the world as Axient) plus a wealth of new broadcast-related products. ‘This is the first time that Shure has had its own booth at InterBEE and we have lots of new products, especially in the broadcast section which serves the purpose of the show,’ said Alison Cheuk. ‘Most of our visitors have been very excited to see the new products and they’re really looking at them in detail.’
InterBEE is continuing at the Makuhari Messe until Friday November 18th.