The Tokyo International Anime Fair 2009 kicked off Wednesday to a cheerful start, featuring a mix of both domestic and overseas companies presenting their newest products and exploring new marketing methods ranging from "anime" tourism to online broadcasting.
The four-day event, open to the public Friday and Saturday, has brought together 255 animation-related companies and organizations — 56 from overseas — spread across 759 booths at Tokyo Big Sight.
The festival's organizers expect total turnout for the four days to reach more than 130,000 this year, surpassing last year's record 126,622.