Arashi welcomes foreign tourists back to Japan

Would five effeminate, overly-styled men fill your head with a desire to visit Japan and eliminate all memories of nuclear disaster and fall-out? That’s apparently the Japanese tourist authority dreams. One foreign resident designer laughed that few outside Japan would know the commercial charms of Arashi, and that the contexts are hard to understand for those with limited knowledge of Japan.

Who would be better? The womyn’s soccer team, Nadeshiko? The almost invisible Royal Family? The CEO of TEPCO (Tokyo Electric Power Company, owner & operator of the Fukushima nuke plant)? Pokemon?

Remix of Japan’s Advertising Council commercials

In the weeks and months after the earthquake, the television channels in Japan either could not or would not run regular ads. In their place was what seemed like an endless loop of several commercials from Japan’s Advertising Council. I love how this tedious contingency became a resource for having some fun.

Boys Be Ambitious

Happy Boys Day in Japan! It’s odd that there’s a holiday dedicated to boys, and more recently renamed to Childrens Day (although the non-holiday Girls Day is still on March 3 and some claim Gay Day for April 4). I love how rampantly commercial the celebration of maleness can be. Is ambition also something to be bought and traded? I wonder what ambitions boys today have.

Lumine Shinjuku displays robot with giant bulging crotch

Has anyone else been on the East Side of the JR Shinjuku station? Lumine has this incredibly obscene robot with a giant, bulging crotch. I love how there are always people snapping photos. I am unclear what the commercial goal of this display is, but it is certainly obscene.

Notice in the reflection, below, this new lamb-inspired fall fashion: matching white furry vest and leg warmers. Nice!

Thanks, Tokyo Matt, for showing me this commercial spectacle.

Cat rescue in Nakano Sun Mall

Walking in Nakano’s Sun Mall plaza recently, I saw everyone staring up at the ceiling of this 1970s commercial corridor. And then I saw the uniformed rescue workers. Following their gaze, I saw a white cat perched on the “catwalk” two floors above the ground. The husband had to explain to me that this is dangerous for the cat. Doesn’t it have 9 lives? I am not much of a cat-lover, but I do enjoy the chance to see so many concerned men.

Provocation and Dignity

Ah, commercial English in Tokyo. This Shinjuku “dining and bar lounge” named “in aqua” offers provocation and dignity. Does this mean that it is dirty and still high class? Or maybe the nouns were chosen at random.