Tokyo, Nov. 11, 2012/AM -- Toyota Motor Sales & Marketing Corporation (TMSM) is currently exhibiting at the Anime Festival Asia (AFA) 2012 in Singapore, where it is showing “PES (Peace Eco Smile),” an animation made in collaboration with STUDIO4C. It aims to enhance the Japanese content industry by proactively supporting younger designers and artists, and introducing them to the rest of the world. This exhibition is also being supported by Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry as a part of the Cool Japan Strategy Promotion Program.
Launched in 2008, AFA is a large-scale Japanese pop culture event for Southeast Asia. Every year it attracts crowds of fans, with 2011’s festival visitors setting a new record of over 80,000. This year's event was also the first foray for “PES” in Southeast Asia and large numbers of visitors from Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia passing the TOYOTA booth were all stopped in their tracks by the charming anime. When the mascot character Su appeared in the venue there was also lots of excitement as visitors rushed to take photographs. Su showed how popular he is in Southeast Asia, parading around the AFA venue and mingling with other mascots.
Alongside the buzz surrounding “PES,” the exhibits also features the iPhone app Backseat Driver, the first project for ToyToyota and made in collaboration with creative unit PARTY to bring fun to car mobility, as well as 86 World Report (created by DNP + Jetman), an app which lets a Toyota 86 car appear in photographs taken with your phone. Visitors to AFA hugely enjoyed the sense of realism the app provided, with children particularly having lots of fun playing with it.
In addition to the mass media, visitors to the event also included a doctor from the National University of Singapore, a researcher from Kansai University, and the Managing Director of the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO). They were all had a lot of interest in the TOYOTA booth.
Anime Festival Asia (AFA)
Dates: November 10 - 11
Venue: Singapore Expo Convention & Exhibition Center
http://www.animefestival.asia/afa12/
