Japan jewelry fair targets Christmas market

The upcoming annual Japan Jewellery Fair is likely to attract even more attention than usual thanks to an expanded array of events.

Organizers are expecting to welcome well over 16,000 visitors to the three-day fair, which opens at the Tokyo Big Sight Exhibition Center on September 1, due to the largest ever pavilion set aside for Japanese pearls, a jewelry fashion show and a series of industry seminars.

The fair is one of the major jewellery events on the Japanese calendar, along with International Kobe Jewellery, the 15th installment of which has been scheduled for May 12 to 14, 2011, although the Hong Kong Gem and Jewellery Fair in mid-September is recognised as the largets of its kind in Asia.

The fair is primarily aimed at the industry but members of the public are welcome to attend - and in the past the event has attracted a large number of people who are not in the jewelry trade but are keen to snap up some wholesale-priced bargains. Some of the best buys are individual loose stones, but there will also be a dazzling selection of top-end finished pieces of jewelry.

Those in the industry also use the event to closely monitor trends and emerging styles in the market ahead of the all-important end-of-year and Christmas season. Pearls are presently hot items in the jewelry world, while the South Korean designers at Gallery Sowyen have also been attracting attention for their work. On the business side of the event, new emphasis is being added to selling via the Internet and protecting copyrights and trade names in some emerging markets.

The organizers will this year also introduce a Mineral Pavilion, displaying a range of fossils, meteorites and rare minerals, while Sanwa Pearl Co. will hold an auction of some of its wares on September 2 in the area dedicated to displaying pearls.

The winners of the Japan Jewellery Association's Jewellery Design Award 2010 are scheduled to be announced on September 1, followed by the fashion show to display the most impressive designs, while The Lalique Museum will also be taking part in the event for the first time. Some 1,500 art nouveau and art deco items created by Rene Lalique and collected by the museum, in the Japanese town of Hakone, will be on display.

The fair will also include a series of lectures for those in the jewelry industry, including an examination of increasing opportunities in the Malaysian market, a presentation on being successful in the Hong Kong and Chinese markets, delivered by Dr. Wong Kam Shing, managing director of The Kowloon Watch Co., and a similar consideration of the expanding Indian and Russian markets

Other seminars will demonstrate how to get the best results out of TV shopping opportunities and new sales strategies in the colored gemstones sector.

September 1-3

Hours: 10 am to 6 pm (closes at5 pm on September 3)

http://www.japanjewelleryfair.com/en/index.php

JR