Amana Inc. Announces Webinar on April 16, 2026: "Decoding 2027 Business Trends and the Forefront of Technology from SXSW 2026"

Amana Inc. (Headquarters: Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director and President: Takeaki Kaneko; hereinafter "Amana"), which realizes communication transformation through creativity, will host an online seminar on Thursday, April 16, 2026, with the theme "Decoding 2027 Business Trends and the Forefront of Technology from SXSW 2026."

South by Southwest (SXSW), the world's largest innovation and creative conference held every March, reached a significant milestone in 2026, marking its 40th anniversary since its inception in 1987. Under the theme "All Together Now," the fusion of technology and humanity and the rebuilding of communities were at the core of the discussions.

This year also strongly emphasized that the previous AI boom has moved beyond a temporary frenzy, transitioning into a phase of "implementation and ethics" concerning how it specifically changes our lives and work.

In this webinar, we will welcome Mr. Riku Akimoto from STYLUS, an innovation advisory that researches global market trends, as a guest speaker. He will report on the main discussion points and notable areas at SXSW 2026. Through insights gained from annual SXSW surveys and a comparison with this year's trends, valuable perspectives will be provided.

Speaker

Riku Akimoto

Country Manager, Stylus Japan Inc.

After consulting experience at IBM and GiXo, he participated in the launch of the Israeli startup Outbrain Japan, assuming his current position in September 2019. He specializes in localizing overseas technology and business concepts.

Recommended for:

・ Those in marketing, advertising, and public relations departments

・ Those in new business development departments

・ Those interested in the latest trends

Event Overview

Date: Thursday, April 16, 2026, 12:00 PM - 12:50 PM JST

Capacity: 200 participants

Participation Fee: Free

Application URL: https://bit.ly/4tmxV7i

Inquiries: TEL 03-3740-4011 (main), E-Mail event@amana.jp

About Amana Inc.

Established in 1979 as an advertising photography production company. Subsequently, it expanded its business into one of Japan's largest creative studios, producing and providing visual content such as still images, videos (TV commercials, web videos, etc.), and CG (retouching, 3DCG, apparel CG). Currently, leveraging its abundant creative resources and knowledge cultivated through 10,000 projects annually, Amana is committed to realizing communication transformation through creativity that conveys client companies' value and moves people. Furthermore, by combining solutions uniquely developed by Amana, the company supports clients' communication strategies and DX (Digital Transformation) promotion, undertaking numerous projects that enhance corporate value together with clients.

Amana Inc. Company Profile

Representative: Takeaki Kaneko, Representative Director and President

Location: 2-2-43 Higashi-Shinagawa, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo

Established: April 1979

Capital: 100 million JPY

Number of Employees: (Consolidated) 520 as of January 1, 2026

Business Activities:

Visual Communication Business (strategy and planning in communication, brand design & activation, inner communication, content marketing, content production & editing, prototyping, movie/graphic production, web production, and other various promotion strategy planning)

URL: https://amana.jp/