Winter Sweet Potato Expo

The Sweet Potato Expo is a food fair given over entirely to sweet potatoes. Shops from across Japan bring yaki-imo, sweet potatoes roasted whole, along with sweets and other dishes made from them. It was first held in 2020 and now takes place twice a year, in winter and in summer.

The organisers set out to serve the growers and the shops as well as the visitors, and two contests run alongside the stalls. In the National Yaki-imo Grand Prix, visitors vote for the best roasted sweet potato shop in the country. The Japan Sweet Potato Summit is a contest for growers, held to find farmers whose sweet potatoes stand out and to make their work better known.

The 2027 winter expo

The 2027 winter expo is held at Toyosuna Park, next to AEON Mall Makuhari Shintoshin in Chiba as a special partner. The Japan Sweet Potato Summit 2026-27 and the National Yaki-imo Grand Prix 2027 run alongside it.

The organisers have also begun a campaign to make the sweet potato an everyday vegetable rather than a seasonal treat. Under it they publish information on varieties, growing regions, nutrition and recipes, and plan social media campaigns and a prize draw for sweet potato fans.