Japanese commercials of Christmas Past
Christmas in Japan lacks any pretense of being a religious holiday. Instead Christmas Eve is intended for couples to go to nice restaurants, exchange fancy gifts and perhaps stay overnight at a top-class hotel. Families have spent Christmas Day eating Kentucky Fried Chicken ever since the company started a campaign in the 1970s stating that it was an American tradition to order a big bucket on the 25th.
With such emphasis on buying mass-market commercial products, Christmas has always been a perfect time for iconic television commercials in Japan. Here are five of the best on YouTube.
1. JR Tokai's "X'mas Express" 1988-1992: Love in the Bubble
There's nothing more romantic than waiting for your long-distance boyfriend to step off a train just in time for a late-night Christmas Eve reunion. These commercials play with that premise while, as a bonus, reminding us that makeup style of the late-1980s/early-1990s was a historical nadir for Japanese beauty. Also, all the boyfriends dress in streetwear straight out of an old Scha Dara Parr video.
2. Tsuburaya Christmas 1995: Ultraman brings good tidings to his enemies
Ultraman and his enemies have a long history of embittered rivalry, but their production company Tsuburaya likes to show that when the holiday season rolls around, cosmic warriors enjoy frolicking in the snow and exchanging presents as much as anyone else. This very bizarre commercial also scores a few points for using a slightly off-tune child singer to cover the Wham classic "Last Christmas." For Ultraman obsessives, make sure to also check out Tsuburaya's 1996 version.
3. Noriko Sakai: Selling cakes at Circle K
Remember when Noriko Sakai was an innocent young idol singer and not a convicted drug user? Christmas is the perfect time for waxing nostalgic, so we invite you to watch Ms. Sakai convince a 1980s television audience to reserve Christmas cakes at Circle K. Order now and you can get a Nori-P calender -- that must be worth a lot these days!
4. KFC Christmas 1986: Rie Miyazawa and a Great Pyrenees
A house with a fireplace? Having five children? Raising a giant white Great Pyrenees mountain dog? None of these things are actually possible in Tokyo. But you can order Kentucky Fried Chicken on Christmas (and maybe hope Santa brings you a copy of "Santa Fe" with the commercial's star, Rie Miyazawa, in a slightly different genre.) As you can see with more recent KFC commercials, the marketing approach has not changed much in two decades.
5. Marui Christmas 1990: Frolicking with attractive foreigners
1990 was the height of the "Bubble" era, when Japan was on top of the world and consumer expectations were insanely high. Part two of this commercial from shopping building Marui reflects this time well. An international group of attractive twentysomethings frolicks through the snow on its way to a candle-lit, silver-platter, champagne-glass Christmas dinner beside the fireplace in a grand old house. The tagline: "I want you to see the real me. Come to my room." No one's room looked anything like that in 1990, but we love thinking back on a time of such impossible aspirations.
read most
commented