Screening Criteria
A product that conveys charm of Japan to the world and that overseas visitors would like to bring back home as an attractive Japanese souvenir will be selected.
Awards are retracted in case of any misconduct or fraudulence in application.
Traditional Japan Category
<Traditional> A product that directly conveys the traditional Japan to foreigners.
Essential Japan Category
<Practical> A casual and practical product widely used in Japan that has Japanese wisdom, skill, design or taste.
Cool Japan Category
<Modern> A product with Japanese culture and technology represented in an innovative way.A sub-culture product is also included.
Country/Region Award
A product that best suits the thinking and feeling of people in the focused markets (15 countries and regions) for Visit Japan.
*Please note that the judges will decide which award category the application falls under.
*Considering the long distance transportation, the product having a portable size and weight is preferable.
*Only the product made in Japan is accepted; no imported product is acceptable.
*In case that the applicant is not the manufacturer of the product, application should be submitted only after obtaining a consent from the product manufacturer.
*Applications for a plagiarized product or with false reporting will be omitted from screening.
First Screening (Documentary Screening)
For a fair and smooth selection of candidate products, the group of judges from focused markets (15 countries and regions) for Visit Japan and the competition organizer will conduct the first screening (documentary) based on application and category criteria. Approximately 100 products will be chosen as nominees.
*Those who passed the first screening will be notified by the competition organizer in mid-Januray.
*They are requested to provide the award winning product for the final screening.
Final Screening
Further screening will be performed based on application and screening criteria by foreign judges from focused markets (15 countries and regions) for Visit Japan as well as Japanese and non-Japanese judges with expertise in tourism and distribution.
Screening for the Grand Prix and Awards by Category:
Products are judged by point rating in the final screening; the product ranking is based on the total number of points of all judges.
(1) Grand Prix
⇒ One product with the highest total point rating of the all judges is selected
(2) Category Award (3 categories)
⇒ Based on the points by category and the total points, Gold, Silver and Bronze awards are selected.
[Even score]
In case of more than one product having the same point rating, the product that has more points from non-Japanese judges will be considered higher in the ranking. If there is still more than one product with the same rating, the decision will be left to the chairman of the award committee.
One product will be selected by judges from each country and region for the country and regional award.
Announcement and Handling of the Winning Products
The award winners are notified directly by telephone or email by end of February of the same year.
The award winning products will be announced on the website and other media after the competition.
For the award winning products with permission from manufacturers will be sold in Narita, Haneda, Kansai and Chubu airports.
*Award winners may be requested to submit the product again.
Awards Ceremony
The awards ceremony is planned around mid-March each year in the Tokyo metropolitan area. Award winners are kindly request to attend the ceremony.
