Sydney Japan External Trade Organisation Newsletter Summer 2016/17 Issue 4 www.jetro.go.jp/australia Photo by Yoshikazu Takada / CC BY Takada Yoshikazu Photo by A MESSAGE FROM THE Nippon Life, Japan-based Sony Life Insurance ob- per wholegrain BARLEYmax™, within the Japanese MANAGING DIRECTOR taining a stake in ClearView Wealth, and Japan’s market. Since then, the award winning product has Rakuten acquiring 100% ownership of Australia- attracted a great deal of attention. based FXAsia Pty Ltd being just some of the con- Meanwhile Fuji film invested into the Australian tinuing examples. regenerative medicine venture Cynata Therapeutics Shuichi Hirano However, while there was no large value expan- Limited in August 2016, and has since gone on to MANAGING sion into Japan by an Australian company, the serv- incorporate the technical skills and know-how that DIRECTOR ices sector, especially the expansion of the various Cynata Therapeutics possessed to further their own Dear readers, fast food chains, and famous restaurants, from all research and development of regenerative medicine Thank you for reading the 2016/17 Summer edi- over Australia into Japan was prominent in 2016. products. tion of JETRO Sydney’s newsletter. The Sydney based Modern Greek restaurant The When Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull visited 2016 could be described as the year in which Apollo opening a store in Ginza in March was one Japan in December 2015, he reached an accord with there was acceleration in business between Aus- such example. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe concerning the further- tralia and Japan. Particularly, there has been a clear In addition, the potential for new business crea- ing of innovation cooperation between Australia increase in business momentum between Australia tion as a result of the synergy brought about be- and Japan. Whilst previously expansion in the re- and Japan, with shuttle democracy commencing tween Japanese and Australian companies through source and energy sectors has taken main stage, the between the Prime Ministers of Australia and Ja- the use Australia’s technological prowess is one above-mentioned innovation cooperation between pan and the Japan Australia Economic Partnership area that has been attracting particular attention. Australia and Japan should further intensify, with Agreement (JAEPA) coming into full force. For example, the Japanese company Teijin in- 2017 becoming the year when the massive scale of Investment into Australia from Japan continued tensified their joint development of functional food that potential becomes readily apparent. strongly into 2016. The financial services sector was with the Melbourne-based The Healthy Grain Pty It therefore would not be an exaggeration to say especially prominent, with the completion of NAB’s Limited, and of July 2016 began test marketing the that business relations between Australia and Japan sale of its life insurance business MLC to Japan’s sale of their product, which makes use of the su- are expanding to a new stage. IN THIS ISSUE: Message from our Managing Director FEATURE: Madman Entertainment Manuel: Collaboration in Innovation JETRO Sydney’s MD reviews the recent investment trends of Special Guest Nathan Kershaw discusses how Madman AJEI’s Manuel Panagiotopolous reports on recent innovative 2016 and expected trends moving into 2017. PAGE 1 brings Japanese anime and manga to Australia PAGE 2-3 developments between Australia and Japan. PAGE 4 Article: Japanese Food is Taking Flight Success Case: Drake Business Logistics Editor’s Corner: Innovation and R&D JETRO Sydney Business Development Director Minako Read about how this logistics and business services com- Our editor looks at new steps taken by the Japanese govern- Kawasaki presents a new trend in Japanese food. PAGE 5-6 pany is adapting their strategies to a new market. PAGE 7 ment to promote innovation and R&D in science. PAGE 8 Sydney - Summer Newsletter 1 IN THIS ISSUE: MD’s Message P.1 Japanese Food P.5-6 Feature: Madman P.2-3 Success Case P.7 Manuel’s View P.4 Editor’s Corner P.8 Sydney Newsletter ISSUE 4 - SUMMER 2016/17 Photo:Courtesy of Madman Entertainment FEATURE ARTICLE: Madman Entertainment Japanese Pop Culture in Australia 20 years later we are amazed and pleased that 200 products per year, including DVD, Blu-Ray the market has shown consistent growth, first and limited edition “premiums”, and represents through video, then DVD and Blu-Ray, and more some of the biggest brands in anime including recently through VOD platforms like our own Studio Ghibli, Dragon Ball Z, One Piece, Naruto, Nathan Kershaw animelab.com making Japanese animation more Sailor Moon, Attack on Titan, and Evangelion. Event Manager and more accessible to a wider audience. Madman also have a strong focus on bringing Madman Entertaiment One of the most striking demonstrations of Japanese live action and anime films to Austral- Madman Entertainment is Australia’s leading the growth of the genre is attendance of anime ian and New Zealand cinemas. For over 10 years independent theatrical, home entertainment fans at conventions. Recently Madman celebrated Madman has distributed Japanese film content, distribution and rights management company, our love of anime at “Madman Anime Festival” and has pioneered a “speed-to-market” ap- specialising in the wholesale distribution of DVD and Blu-Ray product into sales channels through- out Australia and New Zealand. Madman proudly showcases the best in collectible and special Madman started distributing Japanese anime around 20 years interest genres including Australian film, world cinema, TV, kids’ content, Anime, sports and more. ago. We learned about the amazing variety of imaginative and high quality animation [...] and believed there was an opportu- EARLY DAYS nity in the Australian market for this genre. .” Established back in 1996 by a couple of self- confessed nerds, keen to share their passion for in Melbourne with around 10,000 fans. We have proach, ensuring that fans can see films released awesome content, Madman is proudly independ- also recently announced that Madman Anime in cinemas as close as possible to the Japanese ent, run by fans, for fans and is still managed by Festival will be coming to Perth in March and theatrical release date. In 2016 alone, Madman founders Tim Anderson and Paul Wiegard. Brisbane in June and look forward to celebrating has released a slew of Japanese and anime films When recently interviewed, Mr Anderson anime with fans there also!’ in cinemas, including Shin Godzilla, Your Name, said the following: ‘Madman started distribut- The Boy and the Beast, Final Fantasy XV: Kings- ing Japanese anime around 20 years ago. We MARKET APPROACH glave, One Piece Film: Gold, and Only Yesterday. learned about the amazing variety of imaginative Madman has been the voice of anime in Aus- In addition to releasing Japanese content and high quality animation produced for all age tralia and New Zealand for 20 years. As Australia on disc and digital, Madman Entertainment audiences in Japan and believed there was an op- and New Zealand’s largest distributer of Japanese portunity in the Australian market for this genre. entertainment content, Madman releases over continued on page 3 2 Sydney - Summer Newsletter IN THIS ISSUE: MD’s Message P.1 Japanese Food P.5-6 Feature: Madman P.2-3 Success Case P.7 Manuel’s View P.4 Editor’s Corner P.8 Sydney Newsletter ISSUE 4 - SUMMER 2016/17 Photo:Courtesy of Madman Entertainment From page 2 Japanese pop culture event! Madman Anime Festival was held in Melbourne’s number one also operates AnimeLab, a dedicated anime event space, the Melbourne Convention and video platform that fast-tracks hit shows direct Exhibition centre and included 11 international from Japan. AnimeLab has a massive catalogue guests from Japan, South Korea, and the USA. including simulcasts Naruto Shippuden and Licensors such as Aniplex, Bandai Visual, Toei, Dragon Ball Super and huge hits like Tokyo Ghoul, Pierrot and NTV provided support for the festival, One-Punch Man, Attack on Titan and Sword Art and sponsors included Bushiroad, Canon, Sony, Online. Subscribers have the option to have a free The Japan Foundation, and SBS PopAsia. Over membership, which includes ads and standard 10,000 people from across Australia attended the definition streaming, or a Premium membership festival over 2 days, enjoying exclusive exhibits that (amongst other things) is ad-free, offers high and panels, unique retail offerings, a maid café, definition streaming, and access to stream new cosplay, authentic Japanese food, and the Austral- Photo:Courtesy of Madman Entertainment episodes just hours after they air in Japan. With ian premiere of One Piece Film: Gold. over 260 shows and 6,000 episodes stream- Following the success of the 2016 event, ing, there is no shortage of anime available for Madman Anime Festival will return in 2017 in Australian and New Zealand fans to watch on three cities across Australia: Perth on March 4-5, demand. Brisbane on June 10-11, and Melbourne on No- Madman Entertainment sponsors over 30 vember 4-5. The 2017 festivals will include eve- anime and pop culture events across Australia rything that made Madman Anime Festival 2016 and New Zealand, as well as regularly attending the anime event of the year, including exciting over 25, including Supanova Expo, Oz Comic Con, international guests, exclusive exhibits, screen- PAX and Armageddon Expo. This provides direct ings, awesome community events, and more! exposure to over 400,000 fans, allowing Madman to interact with anime and Japanese pop culture Nathan is Event Manager of Madman Enter- fans directly. tainment. For more information please visit www.madman.com.au or contact Nathan RECENT EVENTS directly at +61 3 9261 9200 or nathan@mad- On September 3rd and 4th, 2016, Madman man.com.au launched Australia’s first, professionally-run, Sydney - Summer Newsletter 3 IN THIS ISSUE: MD’s Message P.1 Japanese Food P.5-6 Feature: Madman P.2-3 Success Case P.7 Manuel’s View P.4 Editor’s Corner P.8 Sydney Newsletter ISSUE 4 - SUMMER 2016/17 Photo:https://unsplash.com/@daryan Collaboration in Innovation: Not Just Words developed into a muesli type product which is major initiative under the MOU.