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The MIDI Association at Tokyo Gakki Expo 2025

The MIDI Association

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The Tokyo Gakki Fair was held on November 1 and 2 at The Science Museum 1F Exhibition Hall 〒102-0091 Kitanomaru Park, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 2-1.

The MIDI Association had a booth that featured the winners of the 2025 MIDI Innovation Awards.

You might wonder why the featured image for this article is a traditional gate to a Japanese castle.

In fact that Tokyo Gakki Fair was held inside of the Kitanomaru Park and so each day started with walking from Jimbocho and passing through the Shimizumon Gate.

A traditional Japanese castle gate and watchtower with white walls, gray tiled roofs, and stone foundations, surrounded by trees and under a clear blue sky.

On either side there were moats that were part of the defense for the Imperial Palace.

A stone wall rises from the edge of a calm moat, topped with dense green trees, while sunlight streams diagonally through the cloudy sky above.

Here is a close up of the gate itself.

A large traditional Japanese wooden gate with metal details set in tall stone walls, surrounded by greenery and a gravel path, under a cloudy sky.

After you entered the gate, you were forced to make a hard left turn and were confronted with a very steep set of stone steps which had two or three feet of flat surface between each step. These were an essential part of the castle defense because anyone who tried to attack would be forced to slow down and be an easy target for archers from above.

The Tokyo Gakki Fair is basically administered by three main people- Takanori Kojima (Executive Committee Chairperson), Katsunori Ujiie (General Producer), Takashi Uesugi (Secretary General).

Kojima-san was a key person for Yamaha synths through out the Motif series, Ujie-san is well known for his voicing work in Japan and for Arturia and Uesugi-san is managing director of the
JSPA Japan Synthesizer Professional Arts .

So we had lots of old friends supporting us and their entire staff was really great and very helpful.

One of the hits of the show was the the interactive display at the MIDI Association Booth that featured Connect Through MIDI, The Arcana Strum, the Oddball and the Drum Beam among other MIDI controllers.

A young child wearing headphones enthusiastically plays with drumsticks near a table with a laptop, cables, and audio equipment. An adult stands nearby. People are gathered in the background of a large indoor space.
A young girl wearing headphones and holding drumsticks plays an electronic drum pad at an indoor event, with people and booths in the background.
A young girl wearing headphones touches music equipment on a table covered with audio devices and laptops, surrounded by adults at an indoor event.

The Circle Guitar and Playtonik also got a lot of attention.

A person uses a smartphone with a music app open, shown editing a video on a computer screen. Chinese text appears on the phone screen, and editing software timelines are visible.
A man wearing headphones plays an electric guitar at an indoor event while others watch, talk, and interact with musical equipment in a busy, well-lit room.

There were many MIDI Association members with booths at Tokyo Gakki Fair.

Two Studiologic SL MK2 MIDI keyboard controllers are displayed on stands at an exhibition booth, with a Studiologic banner and sign in the background. Headphones are placed on one of the keyboards.
Two people in a music store examine and play synthesizers displayed on stands. Brand signs like Mellotron, Sequential, Oberheim, and UDO are visible on the wall behind them.
People explore and try out electronic keyboards and synthesizers at a Roland booth inside a spacious indoor event, with various equipment and promotional displays visible.

Our partners at AMEI did a presentation on MIDI 2.0 that was well atttended.

A presentation screen displays details for the AMEI MIDI 2.0 Seminar at Tokyo Instrument Expo 2025, with information in Japanese and English, event time, and participants, along with a microphone in the foreground.

We don’t want to make it sound like we didn’t squeeze in some visits to some of our favorite places while in Japan and here are a few photos from those side trips.

People stand in front of a traditional Japanese temple with ornate roof details and a large white drape featuring circular emblems, under a cloudy evening sky.
Yasukuni Jinja
A statue of a standing figure is silhouetted against a dramatic orange and yellow sunset sky, framed by dark trees on either side.
The statue at the entrance to Yasukuni Jinja with a beautiful Tokyo sunset
Tokyo cityscape featuring the Asahi Beer Hall with its golden flame sculpture, the Tokyo Skytree tower, modern and high-rise buildings, a bridge, and a river in the foreground under a partly cloudy sky.
The Sumida River near Asakusa with a view of the Tokyo Skytree

We are hoping that some of the other people who made the trip to Music China and Tokyo Gakki Fair will share their own special experiences soon.