This year at Anime Expo, AmiAmi, a Japanese Online Anime Shop, held an exhibition in celebration of PAC-MAN’s 45th anniversary, THE IDOLM@STER’s 20th anniversary, and AmiAmi’s 25th anniversary.

The booth held a variety of plushes, figurines, and limited-edition items that are exclusively available in Japan. They were also selling merchandise, with all proceeds going to the California Community Foundation’s Disaster Relief Fund in Los Angeles.

I was lucky enough to secure an interview with an AmiAmi Public Relations manager, Azusa Iwanaga, and ask a few questions about AmiAmi.

I will say, as an apology, the AmiAmi team was extremely kind and courteous, and this was my first interview with anyone. I was extremely nervous and didn’t ask enough questions!

Interview with Azusa Iwanaga

Elle
“ So first, thank you for having me, and I do apologize for my tardiness, but I hope that your trip  from Japan here was very smooth.  So I understand it’s the anniversary of AmiAmi, PAC-MAN, and THE IDOLM@STER this weekend. Would there be any other events outside of anime? “

Iwanaga
“ No plans outside of AX for now; however, the collaboration of goods that we have will probably be sold on our website.”

Elle
“ With the changes in America, since AmiAmi does provide straight from Japan, does that prove difficult bringing it here? Does it affect the price at all?”

Iwanaga
“ So the situation is changing every day. So it’s really hard for us to plan for that, you know, for, as all business owners probably like, that. But, um, we feel that it is our duty to be able to provide the products at a price point that fans can easily purchase. So we’re, we’re doing our best to stick to that mission.”

Elle
“Is the figurine business different between consumers in the States compared to Japan? In terms of sales and preference of customers?”

Iwanaga
“ So in the past, there was like a big difference between Japan and the US, but now, thanks to the streaming services, we found out that there are the tastes of like Japanese and Western fans, but they’re a lot more similar now that, you know, we have easier access to them. Right? There are a lot of Otaku in the US.”

It was a pleasure to meet and talk with the AmiAmi representatives. If you want to buy merch or see the anniversary collections, be sure to check out their online store!