On May 19, 2022, the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association announced that it’s changing both the name and the scope of the Tokyo Motor Show in 2023. Going forward, the new name will be Japan All Industry Show, a name that’s meant to highlight the unity of multiple mobility industries working together to move people.
The reasons for this change evolved organically over the course of the past few years. For those unfamiliar, the last Tokyo Motor Show was held in 2019, prior to the global pandemic. JAMA noted that because additional industries outside of the traditional auto industry were also involved, the event had 1.3 million visitors. Although it still centered on automobiles, by including other types of vehicles, it achieved a long-held goal of attracting over 1 million attendees—which is certainly no small feat.
Another reason is that all industries involved with mobility are currently in a state of change. JAMA’s official position, as its board discussed elsewhere in the same press conference, is that carbon is the enemy—not combustion. Thus, it says, pursuing multiple ways of reducing carbon emissions for the health of the environment is what’s needed.
As both traditional industry players and startups go down different avenues with regard to carbon neutral transportation, the nature of the show changes. In the interest of including as many of these interlinked pieces of the Japanese automobile, motorcycle, and mobility industries as possible, that’s why JAMA felt that 2023 is the time to broaden both the show’s name and its scope.
The show itself, JAMA says, will also be completely revamped, although it didn’t give details about what exactly will be involved. Instead, it only noted that people should look forward to the new and improved event. Acting together across industries, the association believes, is the best way for everyone involved to move forward with the goal of both improving transportation, and also establishing its place in fostering a healthy environment.
Of course, saying these things is only one part of it. How the show comes together—and more importantly, how the combined industries work together to tackle such big societal issues as climate change—are much bigger and less easily defined pieces of the puzzle. For all of it, we’ll have to watch and see what happens.
