Poster Design: Nakanishi Yosuke
Ever wanted to see what makers get up to in Japan? Here’s your chance! The always wonderful Maker Faire Tokyo kicks off this weekend at its usual forum at Tokyo Big Sight, Japan’s largest expo hall located in the city’s waterfront district, and online. Produced by the O’Reilly Japan team, who also publish the Japanese edition of Make: magazine and produce Maker Faire Kyoto (which held a virtual event May 2nd & 3rd), this year’s edition is a hybrid format with both in person programming and online content. As at Maker Faire Eindhoven last weekend, the Make: Japan production team have stepped up to the challenges presented to global events and innovated a modified version of their traditional event, while still bringing the inspiration of Maker Faire to the community with virtual programming.
The Saturday and Sunday online offerings include simultaneous programming from the live event and also unique online only content from makers around Japan. You can access the programming on YouTube:
Saturday, October 3rd, 12:00 – 17:00 (JST)
Sunday, October 4th, 10:00 – 16:00 (JST)
There is never any shortage of ingenuity, creativity, and invention at Maker Faire Tokyo and, despite the challenges of the pandemic, this year’s event is no exception. As might be expected given Japan’s long history of innovative electronics, Maker Faire Tokyo is full of technical wizardry, devices that make the ordinary extraordinary, and quirky robots. However, in a country renown for its traditional crafts and attention to detail, the work of makers and artisans of all types also shines. Typically one of the most international Maker Faire events, due to COVID-19 restrictions, this year’s Call for Makers was not open to international applicants. Check out the full program here.
Here’s a sneak peek of some of this year’s fun projects:
Exoskleleton Rex by Higekita (Twitter)
LED Samba Costume by Hikaru (Twitter)
Sound, Light, and Kinetics – Synthesizer Marble Machine! by Denha (Twitter)
Here’s a smaller prototype in action.
Ground Effect Vehicle by Imae Kagaku
This radio controlled vehicle that will fly slightly above the surface of the earth using the ground effect using two ducted fans driven by a brushless motor.
Zoetrope by PANTOGRAPH (Twitter)
Online highlights include:
Kids AI Programming Contest Final Event – Saturday, 10/3 @ 15:00 (JST) and 17:00 (JST)
Sony’s Toio System for Makers – Saturday, 10/3 @ 14:00 JST
Panasonic’s Future Life Factory – Sunday, 10/4 @ 10:30 JST
Piranha Saw Cutting Demonstration – Sunday, 10/4 @ 12:20 JST
A Maker’s Point of View on the Potential in the World After COVID-19, a talk by Shigeru Kobayashi and interview (pre-recorded) with Dale Dougherty of Make Community – Sunday, 10/4 @ 12:30 JST
Here’s a look back at the 2019 Event.
Congratulations to the whole Maker Faire Tokyo and O’Reilly Japan teams for designing such a fantastic event and big thanks to all the makers and attendees for showing up in person and online and bringing the magic!
Follow the event on Twitter / Facebook / YouTube / Instagram or at #MFTokyo2020
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