The Japan Media Arts Festival is a comprehensive media arts festival that seeks to promote the creation and development of the media arts. In addition to recognizing and honoring outstanding works in the four categories of art, entertainment, animation and manga since 1997, it also provides audiences with the opportunity to enjoy and appreciate these award-winning creations.

The festival continues to develop into an international event, with the number of entries received increasing year on year. This year’s 16th installment of the festival attracted the highest number of entries ever – a total of 3,503 works were submitted from 71 countries and regions all over the word.

Overseas exhibitions that introduce media art to a wide overseas audience, with a particular focus on award-winning works from the festival, have previously been held in various international cities all over the world, including Beijing (2002), Shanghai (2007), Singapore (2008), Vienna (2009), Istanbul (2010), and Dortmund (2011). This year, Japan Media Arts Festival in Hong Kong 2012 will be held in Hong Kong, China.