Tokyo Times

Photographs from a small group of islands

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Japan Unwrapped #7: Foreign faces

Dear Tokyo Times

Having recently rewatched Lost in Translation, I was wondering if western movie stars are still used a lot for advertising in Japan, or has the country’s economic problems meant that companies are less willing to pay out huge sums of money for a famous foreign face?

Thanks a lot.

Joe, Melbourne

Whilst the hey days of fading film stars flocking to Japan for fat pay cheques may well be over Joe, the fairly recent upturn in the economy has created more openings for the money-obsessed mega-star. David Beckham for one has amassed an absolute ton of money making comically bad commercials, and Cameron Diaz is now, quite literally, big in Japan.

Yet with the purse strings still relatively tight for many companies, far from famous foreign faces are often the only feasible option. Like mobile phone navigation operator, Navitime, which unfortunately has been forced to make do with an unknown fella with unfashionable facial hair.

Japan advertising

His fees presumably much more of an issue than his moustache.

Japan advertising

And there is also a lot of similar work out there for the ladies, although whilst this bikini-clad beauty is thankfully free of dated facial adornments, in these days of political correctness, her picture has a similarly retro feel.

Japan advertising

A campaign that perhaps doesn’t have the same impact as the one by Ms Diaz, but it does have a certain charm. The only blemish being the supermarket advertisement next to it, which can be a little distracting.

Japan advertising

(click images for bigger bikini-clad biker)

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Tokyo tee time

With club membership fees costing a colossal amount of money, the average salary man is unlikely to be whiling away every weekend on the golf course; however a large number of decidedly less exclusive driving ranges means that the option of going out and hitting a few balls is always open.

Yet whether its clobbering balls from inside a cage, or careering round the course in a cart, looking the part is paramount in Japan, so sensible slacks and a pastel-coloured Pringle polo are de rigueur. And it’s not just clothing either, as having the right equipment is considered equally important — regardless of the expense.

But even such meticulous preparation doesn’t guarantee success, and for the Japanese golfer who is struggling to get his club up and down, feels his shaft may not be stiff enough, or simply needs his balls gripped firmly, these bikini girl golf tees could be ideal.

Japanese tee

A set of these supposedly sexy girls no doubt doing a roaring trade on online retailer Rakuten, where 4 can be bought for 2,730 yen (22 dollar). A purchase that may well have players confidently whacking off from the tee in no time.

Japanese tee

(via the always jam-packed Japan Sugoi)

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Generous Japan

Japan may well have been dealing with deflation for a decidedly long time, but that hasn’t stopped some shops flogging fancy foodstuffs for inordinately large sums of money. In fact, just over a week or so after a Sapporo department store was selling melons for a million yen each, an Osaka outlet is now trying to market mind bogglingly expensive mushrooms.

Yet whilst they would undoubtedly go well with the aforementioned melons, or alternatively do very nicely for a dinner party — albeit a small one — at 189,000 yen (1,550 dollars) for a packet of three, they are fantastically priced bits of fungus.

Japanese mushrooms

However whilst it does seem like an awful lot of money for a measly amount of food, they are by all accounts an extremely rare type of matsutake mushroom. Making them ideal for shoving in a pie or putting on a pizza perhaps.

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Tokyo toys

When it comes to ways of whiling away the hours, Japanese kids aren’t exactly lacking in options: there are games galore, mountains of manga, plus more Hello Kitty merchandise than you could ever imagine — and then some.

Yet far from being put off by such competition, Japanese toy maker Bandai has bravely opted to carve out new niches rather than simply caving in to the competition — its new toilet-based toy undoubtedly treading previously uncharted territory.

A device that in a somewhat unorthodox manner flings rather than flushes faeces, making it both fun for children and ‘surprising’ as advertised.

Japanese toy

Thankfully rumours of a soon to be released full-sized version have purportedly been poo-pooed by Bandai.

Japanese toy

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Gaming gambit

Whilst pachinko is by far Japan’s biggest bastion of gambling — raking in over 30 trillion yen a year — the ball bearing-based game appears to be on the slide, with less and less people frequenting the nation’s numerous ‘parlours’. A peak of 30 million patrons in 1994 dropping to a still substantial but far less healthy 17 million just over 10 years later.

Plus with the majority of such places looking something like the one below, it’s perhaps not that surprising — smoky surrounds and the smell of stale coffee further adding to their less than alluring nature.

Japanese pachinko parlour

Japanese pachinko machine maker Sankyo however has obviously sensed something needs to be done, and opted to sex-up proceedings somewhat — a soon to be released machine based around sultry songstress Kumi Koda aiming to persuade at least some punters to return.

Kumi Koda

A ploy that may work considering Koda’s immense popularity in Japan at the moment, quite possibly resulting in swathes of middle-aged men frantically fiddling with their balls in the vain hope that a few strokes of luck will help them get the big one they desire, whilst at the same time desperately hoping they don’t blow their budget too quickly.

Kumi Koda

Or at least something along those lines.