GPlusMedia Inc. (Headquarters: Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo; Representative Director: Kevin Holdaway), the company behind GaijinPot Expo 2023, is pleased to announce that the job fair and community event achieved record-breaking results, with over 35 exhibiting companies and foreign entrepreneurs and 822 attendees.
Record-breaking attendance
This was the highest ever number of exhibitors and attendees for an event hosted by GPlusMedia.
GaijinPot Expo 2023 was the fifth edition of the leading showcase for companies and services looking to hire foreign employees in Japan. Last year’s event was attended by 25 hiring companies and exhibitors and about 500 people, meaning that attendee numbers increased over 64% for this year’s Expo.
What was new this year
GaijinPot Expo 2023 featured more hiring companies, the first-ever GaijinPot Art Contest and pro bono space for small foreign-owned businesses, in addition to seminars, fun activities for attendees and free popcorn for everyone!
The Expo received overwhelmingly positive feedback from exhibitors, job seekers and other attendees.
Feedback from exhibitors
In the post-event survey and on social media, we received great feedback from exhibitors, including hiring companies and other companies looking to introduce their goods and services to the foreign community. Here are just a few of the testimonials:
- “We are a new brand looking to showcase our goods whenever we can so this was an excellent opportunity to meet new customers.” – Japan Design Collective
- “It offered us a good opportunity for networking and knowing more people.” – J PREP
- “GaijinPot Expo 2023 was a success! Our stand had an infinite queue, and we had a great opportunity to talk with so many of you until the very last minute.” – Mugen Creations
Feedback from attendees
We received equally positive feedback from attendees.
- “Great to interact with so many professionals who come from the same background and who are interested in Japan just like me.” – Employee working in localization
- “There are a lot of interesting companies and a nice atmosphere.” – Employee working in education
- “My first time at a GaijinPot event, pleasantly surprised.” – Senior manager in creative/engineering
Details
Date and time
Sat, Dec 2, 2023, from 12:00 to 17:00
Location
Akiba Square, Akihabara UDX, 4-14-1 Sotokanda, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo
Contents
- Job fair
- Corporate PR booths
- Pro bono booths for foreign entrepreneurs
- Art Contest
- Seminars on working, studying, finding housing in Japan etc.
- Freebies, food and a mascot, Nima the Shiba!
Participating companies and foreign entrepreneurs
More than 35 companies and foreign entrepreneurs from diverse industries exhibited at GaijinPot Expo 2023, including English schools, tourism and hospitality, recruiting, localization and gaming, and moving services.
- Apex, K.K.
- InsideJapan Tours Ltd.
- Borderlink Inc.
- Military AutoSource
- Street Kart
- Educational Network Inc.
- JStyle Co. Ltd.
- AtoZ Corporation
- J PREP
- Link Interac Inc.
- Kinder Kids International School
- Mugen Creations
- Techno Horizon Co. Ltd.
- Hinomaru Kotsu Co. Ltd.
- Mothers Inc.
- Tokyo Academics
- Quest Tokyo K.K.
- Brain Academy Inc.
- Shinjuku Tokyu Hotels Co. Ltd.
- Aloha International Preschool
- GaijinPot
- Expo Art Gallery
- Western Union
- BeGood Japan Ltd.
- Sakai Moving Service Co. Ltd.
- JapanSwitch / One Coin English
- Asahi-Shuzo Sake Brewing Co. Ltd.
- Meko Education Group
- Japan Room Finder / Japan Home Finder
- Domino’s Pizza
- Alex Lynn Yoga (Foreign entrepreneur)
- Borderless Translations (Foreign entrepreneur)
- Code Chrysalis (Foreign entrepreneur)
- Eat Pro Japan (Foreign entrepreneur)
- Heartful Psychotherapy (Foreign entrepreneur)
- Japan Design Collective (Foreign entrepreneur)
- Sakura Phoenix K.K. (Foreign entrepreneur)
- Urban Trekkers (Foreign entrepreneur)
Attendee demographics
Here is an overview of visitor demographics.
By age, attendees from 25 to 34 years old represented the largest group, with almost 65% of visitors in this age range.
By gender, females represented just over 50% of attendees and males about 48%.
Attendees represented over 60 countries, with the top ten coming from:
- United States
- Philippines
- India
- Japan
- Indonesia
- United Kingdom
- Russian Federation
- France
- Germany
- Canada
Attendees held a variety of visa statuses, with Student, Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/International Services and Instructor visas taking the top three positions.
Based on user survey results, many students attended the event to see what opportunities would be available after graduation.
This suggests that the GaijinPot brand and the Expo itself has strong brand recognition with the overseas student demographic and represents an opportunity for employers interested in recruiting from this upcoming pool of bilingual job seekers.
About 38% of attendees have been in Japan for less than one year, but many attendees are much longer term residents, with almost 18% of visitors having lived in Japan for at least seven years to more than 10 years; and over 21% having lived in Japan from three to six years.
This suggests that the profile of GaijinPot users is diverse in its range of experience living and working in Japan, an important point to note for companies looking to reach out to potential customers.
Many English-speaking residents of the country are new here but a key segment, which are active users of GaijinPot, have been in the country for an extended period.
GaijinPot, as well as GPlus Media’s other brands, including JapanToday, SavvyTokyo and Real Estate Japan, have marketing-leading reach among English-speaking residents of Japan, both short- and long-term.
If your company is interested in marketing to these users, GPlus Media can help.
Let’s stay connected
To learn how your company can take advantage of early-bird discounts and ways you can participate in upcoming GaijinPot events, please sign up for our marketing newsletter using the form below.
In the meantime, please feel free to contact our Sales team if you want to learn how GPlusMedia can help you immediately connect with the foreign community in Japan, whether you are looking to hire foreign talent or to sell your products and services to the international community.
