Japan Rocks: Mini Robot makes Mini Coffee

Positive it's fake (unlike my previous Japanese robot post)...but this was too cute not to share.

Lucky Cider

My current favorite commercial.

If you are wondering -- yes, she is indeed speak English Engrish.

Baa

Now this is good viral marketing:



It reminds me of the brilliance behind the Bravia ads: take a simple idea, then blow it up as big as you can.

On another note, here is your pointless and frankly mystifying (even if you understand Japanese) commercial from Japan.
...but that song is quite catchy...

Hello Kitty

Thing #716523 I love about Japan: Commercials where Hello Kitty head-bangs to sell cars.

Japanese Love Robot

Ever since Ruff has been in Japan, I keep an eye out for blogs/articles about anything Japanese. I have found that these articles are often highly interesting and extremely amusing. In fact, I think Lauren should start her own weekly post on Japanese culture. (Ps- MelDoug, what happened to 15 minutes of fame?)

Anyway, I usually keep the articles to myself. But this one I HAVE to share. It seems that some researchers in Kyoto who have created Kenji, a robot who can show emotions such as love, didn't know what they were getting themselves into.

Here's a quote from the article that I think will convince you to read the whole thing: "Each time Kenji is re-activated, he instantaneously bonds with the first technician to meet his gaze and rushes to embrace them with his two 100kg hydraulic arms. It doesn’t help that Kenji uses only pre-recorded dog and cat noises to communicate and is able to vocalize his love through a 20 watt speaker in his chest."

...Corwin?

An Economical Choice

Price of a decent mop at the store: $10

or

Average cost of the first year of having a child: a little over $10,000

+ Price of Baby Mop: Pretty sure it's Japanese, so it's 500 Yen (tell me if I'm wrong, Lauren) making it a little more than $5

but

time saved from not having to mop the floor yourself: priceless


Baby Mop from Chris Milk on Vimeo.

Found this video on AdFreak.

Local Ads

In the same vein as Sean's post about local advertising, here is a local ad for 'Takemoto Piano'.



What says classy pianos more than bored actresses in laytex*?

It seems that this commercial is a favorite (I can't imagine why) in the local area. Explains one women in the comments "Whenever my cockatiel hears this commercial, he sings it. It is also works wonders for making my baby stop crying!"

Indeed, it seems that she isn't the only one who claims it to be a miracle cure for a crying baby.


* There is a joke there, but I will be the classy person and just walk away...

Give me something!

It's an understood (although perhaps intensely loathed) concept of advertising that one major way to get someone to watch your commercial is to give then something in return. However, more often than not people are less inclined to try to get that 'something' as they, in some way, must remove their butts from their warm, soft couches and go into the harsh reality that is the world.

Thanks to the Japanese, this is no longer a problem!

A partnership between Ukiki Channel and the Commercials for Commercials Campaign has created 'Ukiki Campaign" (In Japanese, ukiki is the sound a monkey makes)*.
When you watch a commercial, a special logo will pop-up at the end which lets the viewer know that by watching this commercial, they are eligible for special points. By clicking a button on their remotes, the information is sent to a database which records who watched the commercial, when, on what channel, and a certain amount of points that are being awarded for that commercial.

Japanese consumers are used to the idea of collecting points to receive prizes. Every store here in Japan, from my local crepe shop to the supermarket, offers point cards. As you purchase things, your points accumulate. With these points you can, naturally, get prizes from the card's respective store. At this moment, I am only 103,486 points away from the Louis Vitton handbag that my grocery store offers.

While this campaign most likely wouldn't work in America (land of instant gratification), the Japanese are acclimated to this idea of a point system and the idea of saving up to get something.

The nice point of this campaign is that it isn't only the consumers who get a good deal out of this! Advertisers can now see the who, what, where and when of their viewing audience on a large scale.

The only downside to this brilliant plan? Your television must be equipped with playback. While many people have a notion that Japan is very technical advanced society filled withe early adapters, the truth is that this is very, very far from the truth.

...and because this post wouldn't be finished without a random bit of Japanese/English/American culture backwardness. The 'Halloween Flavored' (pudding flavored) Kit Kat bars have a nice little quote about Halloween on them:
"Halloween is a day to cheer for the dreams of children"

* - Ukiki is also the sound one makes when they're...err...you know..."busy". This lead to many awkward looks from my co-workers when they walked by my computer and noticed what I was looking up on Google...

Enjoy Commercials!

The Japanese Advertising and Mass Media Council has decided to start a campaign to recognize commercials and the role they play in our day to day lives.

While the content of the site is entirely in Japanese, the main page allows you to see two of the current TV spots in the campaign called 'Enjoy Commercials!'. No point in worrying about the language barrier -- they are rather straight forward (or as straight forward as Japanese commercials can be).

So far the campaign has been comprised of these two commercials and the creation of 'Advertising Day' (August 28th) with more promised to follow. Already the site has a rather extensive history of advertising within each decade.

The fact that the commercial managed to get some rather big names is a bit of a surprise. I'm sure that something along the lines of this campaign in the States would be met with, at the very least, some angry letters.


Koma-saru: The campaign's obligatory cute mascot. His name is a bit of a pun (saru means monkey. The name sounds rather like 'commercial'.)

Surfing it old school

…by old school, I mean dial-up. Yes, the only internet which I could procure out here in the countryside of Japan was good ol’ dial-up. I won’t knock it (too much), however. After all, going from completely plugged to barley understanding local news is a very big shock.

I have lived in Japan for a whole month now. In actuality, this isn’t that big as my last stay in Japan was three months long. However, those three months and my one month are so different that it seems ludicrous to even try and compare the two.
Before, I lived in the hustle and bustle of Tokyo. My host family took amazing care of me, my friends were all at school, and all I was doing was what I do best, studying (some people are good at sports, I’m good at being a student). This is a complete three-sixty from my life now: countryside, absolutely no one I know, and I’m on the other side of the desk.
So what is it like to be a teacher? In a word – ulcer-inducing. I have such a hearty new found respect for all of my past teachers (except my sixth grade math teacher. I still detest you). Between planning a lesson that you hope won’t bore the students to tears, keeping control of a class, and keeping your cool when you have some real…err…sweethearts in your class, you can find yourself completely whipped out.
As an assistant I plan a weekly lesson which I then implement in twelve different classrooms under the direction of seven different teachers. The English teachers range from awesome, to bitchy, to barley able to speak English. In turn, each of those twelve classes varies in skill level (barley able to make a sentence to about medium). After only two visits to each class, I know which ones I can enjoy and which ones I will be breaking my legs to get out of.

My first lesson was…bad. I should be getting some sort of aid from the U.N. or have it declared a federal disaster. Perhaps even its own day in remembrance, or, at the very least, a museum dedicated to enlightening others about the horror that befell mankind on that day.

Why was it so bad?

Well, I didn’t think about my audience (a cardinal sin for any advertiser!)
In the Japanese classroom there is none of those willy-nilly ‘discussions’, ‘debates’, or ‘interactive lessons’ that American classes use.
And that is the way the Japanese like it.
Teachers pride themselves on having students sit quietly and be attentive of the lecture. My students never raise their hands and never speak out (generally speaking). Not taking this into account, my first lesson was very quiet, very one-sided, and very, very, very awful.

I have learned since then and this week was actually rather fun. Ever since my emo-tastic first weekend I have been having a blast. Missing my last train and being forced to stay out some more (oh the horror), joining Naginata (long-sword/spear training), seeing the mountains of Japan - I have made some fun memories.

Naginata is my favorite part of Japan (but food is very close). The students were a bit reluctant to speak to me in club at first. I don’t blame them – I would be freaked out if my English teacher was wailing on me with a wooden sword. Now they freely talk to me in my rambling Japanese and teach me everything they can about Naginata.
Our captain is amazing. Ranked number two throughout all of Japan, and yet she is so ready to help me. In the ring, she scares the crap out of me. Outside she is always bright and cheerful.

The first month has been a very crazy roller coaster. I feel as if I am starting to settle down a little bit. You can feel the bite of fall in the air, which will bring about it the lovely autumn leaves and the deal of all the irritating mosquitoes.

...

Urgh, I just REALLY don't want to make any worksheets right now...

I know I said I don't like Apple........but things are different here!

Life in Japan is getting better, with the exception that I was stalked for a bit*, got lost, and have to make a speech in front of 900 students. I enjoy public speaking probably more than a good majority of humanity, but the fact that it is in Japanese diminishes the fun factor to around zero.

But I digress, (I'm prone to digressing as of late, it seems). My third day in the country I got a cell phone, which is pretty awesome –except that it is pink and my plan is ridiculously awful. You see, Japanese phones don't have minutes, but rather just give you a very low rate for each minute. In the case of my awful plan, I pay only .03 cents US for 30 seconds. However, texting is totally free which isusually where the America phone companies get you. I guess it is a trade-off then.

The interesting thing is picking a phone company when you have no real exposure to any of the previous advertising. In the end I chose Softbank for two reasons: that many other JETs have Softbank (thus, free calling), and their advertising is, quite simply, amazing. Their mascot (a talking dog) has gotten such a following in Japan that he will soon have his own show. It is kind of like the Geico cavemen,with the exception that this show won't suck.

Softbank (formerly Vodaphone) is the Japanese distributor of the iPhone. Walking into the store I fully understand why Softbank was designated as an iPhone carrier as the store felt like a copy-paste Mac store. White, clean, everyone was wearing uniforms. Hell, even the packaging of the Softbank phone looks suspiciously familiar. Yet for all they had done in the store to make it clean and interesting, I couldn't help but notice the giant spider web (and spider) in the corner. For god's sake; why wasn't that cleaned up? Itwas, quite frankly, disgusting (and freaking me out a great deal). Seeing the web destroyed all that I believed the store was– this was no Apple copy. I could only see how a spider web in an Apple store would go over.

But then I noticed a trend: these spider webs were in every damn store. It wasn't just in the Japanese stores, but American based chains as well (the local Gap, Starbucks, and McDonalds). What was with this?

In Japan, spiders (and their webs) are considered good luck, especially in the way of money and businesses. Destroying the spider web can be akin to breaking a mirror.

Some think that Globalization destroys cultures, but if anything, I think it can make for some interesting mash-ups.

* To combat this, I have decided to lie profusely when anyone sketchycomes to talk to me again. From now on my name is Cynthia, I am 26 and live with my husband Jack in Osaka (as people seem to always begin conversations with asking how old I am and if I live alone).

(NOTE: This post was written by Lauren and posted by Mel Doug)

Greetings from Miki, Hyogo

Well, it has been a long, long weekend. I moved into my own place Friday to find it already fully furnished (sweet) and infested with giant roached (err...). As of today I have sent four roaches to hell, with the intend of next hunting down the one that fell into my hair last night.

I know it sounds very negative, but I'm having fun here.

Kind of.

I'll admit that this weekend was one of the hardest weekends of my life. I was sent into hysterical crying spells at the smallest things:watching a special about New York, hearing "You've Got a Friend In Me", smelling my Dad's collgune in a store. Hell, even getting rickrolled at a train station caused my lip to quiver.

When you have no internet and only seven channels on your tv it gives you a lot of time to think...and that isn't good. I wondered if I could do this -- really do this. Sure I can speak Japanese and I can prolly teach a decent enough lesson, but could I make friends and abate boredom for the next 360 days (oh yes, I was counting the days a lot during my depressing weekend).

As of right now, I have no answer. I managed to do some really cool things the last few days (get drunk in Tokyo, get a new cell phone, open up my own Japanese bank account), and my house is quite nice (besides my house being some kind of 'Joe's Apartment' homage). The other day I took a train ride around the country side and saw some beautiful sights -- mountains covered in clouds, vallies, monks leading a prayer up a mountain.

Who knows where the future will take me, but I know this: life with basic cable and no internet is really hard.

My crazy life

I can try and plead some sort of amendment regarding my lack of posts on the blog as of late, but I’m not entirely sure which one would help in my current situation. So I’ll just plead the fifth and move on.
Two days ago I finished up my internship. One week ago my partner and I presented our intern project to out bosses, middle and senior management, the COO, and the CCO. I wish I could say more about my project, but to be honest I have a feeling that our projects actually did some good to the point that they may use some of it. As such, I’m going to have to remain tight lipped about it. Yet I will say a few things about it:
1) Seriously, when the COO and CCO are staring you down, you really, really, really feel nervous. I’m not one for getting butterflies in my stomach (I do enjoy speaking in public), however in this instance I had to hide my hands so no one could see how much they were shaking.
2) After the presentation the CCO came over and talked to me about how much he enjoyed my artwork on our plans book (which, by the way, were made completely by hand. From design, to print, to even putting the staples in). That’s a damn good feeling.
My last two weeks at Campbell-Ewald were amazing: the presentation, a Nerf war (I’m still nursing my injuries from falling off of a cubicle), my birthday (I got some free cupcakes, amazing gifts, and bowling in downtown Detroit), and sharing one of my new friend’s 21st birthdays.

There is a point to my rambling: when you look for an ad agency, make sure you’re happy for god-sake. Remember, you’re going to be working there. A lot. I was an intern and I still had to put in some late nights. To be completely frank, I didn’t mind doing that because I not only liked what I did, but I liked who I did it for (does that sound dodgy? I think it does.)
Of course, this is a very lofty thing to say when you’re trying to break into an ad agency. Refusing any offer leaves you to wonder if you just threw away the best (or only) job offer you’ll get. But you have to realize that chances are in a year (if you stand it that long) you will either be looking for another job, or hating every minute in your career.
All in all, my summer at Campbell-Ewald was amazing. I was given work for some damn cool clients (U.S. Mint, Navy, Carhartt, GM, and some others), worked with some damn cool people, and got paid pretty well for an internship. Most of all, I wasn’t given what I like to call ‘bitch work’. Sure, some stuff was less than desirable, however my only assignment wasn’t mopping floors, clean out the fridge, or making binders. People trusted me and I was given actual work.
Among everything I learned, it wasn’t simply advertising, but rather things to help me function in a day to day life in an office: getting along with others, speaking my mind, how to lead someone else, etc.
I could go on and on, but I won’t because I’m babbling now. All I can say is that my internship was SO awesome, and I was genuinely sorry I had to leave early.
As for Japan – I am now in Shinjuku’s skyscraper district getting ready for the JET orientation. For the next year I’ll be living in Japan as a High School teach teaching English.

Right now I would like to take a moment to sing the praises of Continental. I was sitting in coach, and yet the chair was quite comfortable, the food was good, and I watched watched Horton Hears a Who, The Incredibles, Batman Begins, Densha Otoko, The Simpsons, a TV special about Saatchi’s Lovemarks (very interesting if you can find it online), and Monsters Inc. All of this is free – FREE! Does this sound like a shill? Perhaps, but I just think of the last time I flew to Japan on Delta (hissss). I got a choice of Little Mermaid, Chicken Little, or Die Hard.
That’s. All.

Here? 300+ moves. ALL the HP movies, ALL of Pixar – everything.
Ok, so Japan. Umm, to be honest, I have no idea what I’m feeling. I keep thinking I’ll be back in a few months just in time for school to start. But I’m not, I’m living here. I AM LIVING IN A FOREIGN COUNTRY. I’m not being taken care of (I am, in a way, but no one is here to wipe my butt and pay my bills for me). I have to set up my internet on my own – in Japanese!
It’s difficult to explain what I’m feeling. Excitement? Trepidation?
I don’t know. All I know is my Japanese is rusty as hell, which is why I’m watching the news and repeating every other word like some kind of Rainman copycat.