Una promoción alimentaria con personalidad: Entrevista con Yui Itani, experta en ferias alimentarias en Japón

Yui Itani has been a promoter and organizer of agri-food fairs for over 15 years in Japan, one of the countries where direct or personal contact is almost indispensable to initiate most relationships, especially in business. Therefore, trade fairs are common, bringing together producers, processors, distributors, intermediate consumers, and sometimes end consumers in one place to converse and experience products through sight, touch, smell, taste, or sampling.

In this interview, Yui Itani shares details of her experience, focusing on agri-food fairs, which are perhaps the most frequent in a country that culturally places significant importance on food. The average Japanese consumer is interested in knowing what they are eating, where it comes from, and ensuring the safety of what they ingest. Food fairs throughout Japan vary in size and objectives. For example, there are small fairs that focus on promoting a single product or products from a single prefecture, and larger fairs where many local or rural origin products are showcased for urban markets. It should be noted that there are also international fairs where products from foreign origins are exhibited to open new markets or in response to food shortages, although in this instance, the interviewee will provide more insight into those with a local Japanese focus