With the 2020 Tokyo Olympics waiting in the wings, and memories still fresh of the hugely successful four-year Cultural Olympiad culminating in the London 2012 Festival staged there alongside the Olympic Games, the pressure is on Japan's leading annual cultural events not to be found wanting in comparison.
For its part, the blue-riband Performing Arts Meeting in Yokohama — which is still generally known as TPAM, its first acronym because it originated in Tokyo — already has a good track record internationally, with last year's iteration featuring 183 non-Japanese from 41 countries among its 639 professional participants, including artists, producers, directors, promoters and critics.
However, it was heartening to hear at a press conference back in November how organizers of this year's Feb. 6-14 event are determined to bring together more and more artists, producers and audience members from Japan and beyond in the fields of theater, dance and other performing arts.