In April 2024, six Washington State board game and TTRPG companies along with the Office of the Secretary of Washington State (OSOS) teamed up for a week-long trade mission to Tokyo that culminated at the Tokyo Game Market. I joined as a representative of the Tabletop Game Alliance (TGA), bringing my experience as a community facilitator to establish new friendships and connections while also experiencing the cultural highlights of Tokyo.
The trade mission consisted of 20 people representing tabletop businesses the TGA trade organization or came from the OSOS. Mission members from the OSOS utilized their expertise in previous trade missions and international business to arrange meetings, offer translation, and assist with navigating this large group around the city. Arranging the trade mission trip required the combined efforts of all members and months of planning. Rulebooks and sell sheets were translated in advance and meeting upon meeting every week ensured that once we arrived in Tokyo, it would be smooth sailing.
The trade mission itself had clear goals for the group: focus on establishing trade for these Washington companies through researching the local market, and reconnecting or establishing business partners and selling their product at the Tokyo Game Market trade show.
Day one started with a breakfast briefing and review of the day’s schedule. Each day had a packed itinerary with time in the evening for personal exploration. The trade mission began with our best business clothes (not your typical Washington business casual mind you) for a trip to the US Embassy in Ginza. A panel of ambassadors presented Japanese consumer behavior and current economic impacts to the region while we shared our experience navigating the rules and regulations to sell games in Japan.
The next stops of the day were more formal business meetings between JETRO, a Japanese government organization who helps companies export their games from Japan, and a business luncheon filled with introductions and conversation between Japanese business owners and some of the ambassadors we met earlier.
On the eve of the convention, we toured and played games at the Arclight offices. We were able to meet Patrick from the international board game team and others in the office responsible for the many titles Arclight publishes or distributes. Patrick and his team were the hard workers behind the Tokyo Games Market convention, a show that boasts 30,000 attendees over two days and a 2-inch-thick guide that lists all the games and events available during the event.
Molly of Flatout Games enjoying Jelly Jelly Cafe
Outside of formal meetings, we split into groups to visit Akihabara and Shibuya, wards in Tokyo known for their concentration of pop culture and home to many game stores and game cafes unique to Japan. These visits thankfully did not require a suit, and we felt at home browsing stocked game shelves and play spaces in Yellow Submarine, Jelly Jelly Cafe, and DyCE Board Game Cafe, the latter which has a monthly international game night that welcomes Japanese and foreigners to connect over a game.
We gathered lots of photos and retail input by browsing and comparing what familiar games were on these shelves and seeing which Japanese games we had not seen in our Washington game stores. We took note of popular themes (cats, food, and cute critters top the list) packaging size and design, and of course brought some games home to add to the library for additional research. A surprise stop in Shibuya connected us with a coworking building, 404Shibuya, that houses video game companies and digital artists. We also toured the fourth floor that was under development to be an event space complete with a stage, panel rooms, 3 kitchen and dining areas, and even an indoor beer garden for about 2000 people.
The finale of the trade mission brought us to the Tokyo Game Market where the game companies ran demos for attendees with the help of translators who were prepped on the games ahead of the convention.
The TGA and OSOS Washington games booth at Game Market
While a convention is familiar territory, it was quickly apparent the ways in which we should adjust future demos, sales, and displays for the Japanese audience and the customs of a new trade show.
Overall, the trade mission in 2024 was a success and the trip was the first of many to Japan for myself as I wanted to continue building up these relationships we made overseas. I attended Tokyo Game Market again this year in 2025 at a much larger venue in the Makuhari Messe Convention Center. I was able to reconnect with Patrick at Arclight and his team and visit some of my favorite Tokyo Game Market booths (and some new ones) to buy their latest titles. My hope in the future is for another trade mission to Tokyo that will build upon what we learned to have even more success for the Washington State tabletop business and creators looking to bring their work into Japan.
(I didn’t even get to the part about the cultural highlights and all the amazing food we had! That unfortunately will have to be in a future article…)