Makuhari Messe

Makuhari Messe, formally the Nippon Convention Center, stands at 2-1 Nakase in Mihama-ku, Chiba City, on the reclaimed waterfront of Makuhari New City in Chiba Prefecture, roughly 30 km east of central Tokyo across Tokyo Bay. It opened on 9 October 1989 and is the second pillar of the Greater Tokyo exhibition market alongside Tokyo Big Sight, absorbing the region's largest consumer shows and trade fairs. Its calendar includes Tokyo Game Show, Tokyo Auto Salon, the biennial Tokyo Motor Show, Jump Festa and Summer Sonic, and during the Tokyo 2020 Olympics it hosted fencing, taekwondo, wrestling and goalball. The venue is organised as an International Exhibition Hall of eleven halls, an International Conference Hall, and the Makuhari Event Hall with 7,860 seats. Exhibition Halls 1 to 8 are eight identical 6,750 sqm units arranged in a row and separated by movable partitions, so the whole block can be opened into a continuous 54,000 sqm floor. Exhibition Halls 9 to 11, added as the North Halls, add 18,000 sqm: Hall 9 at 9,000 sqm and Halls 10 and 11 at 4,500 sqm each. Indoor exhibition space therefore totals 72,000 sqm. Each of Halls 1 to 8 measures 112.5 by 60 m with clear heights of 15 to 30 m and floor loading of 5 tonnes per sqm; Hall 9 measures 96 by 96 m with a 16 to 34 m ceiling. Organiser rooms, meeting rooms, show offices and loading access are attached to each block, and the site has extensive parking. The complex was designed by Fumihiko Maki, the Pritzker laureate whose practice shaped the low, repetitive hall roofs and the waterfront setting of Makuhari New City. Access is easiest on the JR Keiyo Line to Kaihimmakuhari Station, about a 5-minute walk from the venue; by road it is roughly 40 minutes from central Tokyo or Haneda Airport and about 30 minutes from Narita Airport.