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マルコメ | 世界初カワイイ味噌汁 原宿味（Definition of Japanese Kawaii） | 2016
Packaging miso soup as "kawaii" sounds like a strange combination, but somehow it works. In 2016, Marukome launched a new product aimed at young people: the "world's first" cute instant miso soup. The promotional film made for it was done with insane levels of commitment, and it ended up winning Gold at ADFEST 2017.
カップヌードル | OBAKA's UNIVERSITY | 2016
The first installment got pulled off air just one week after it sparked backlash online. But Nissin didn't stop there—two months later, they brought back Beat Takeshi and Sachiko Kobayashi for another round. Has any brand in Japanese advertising ever shown such a bold "fight back" attitude?
JR東日本 | 北海道新幹線開業 | 2016
I caught this 30-second spot on TV after a long while of not watching, and it made me go "oh!" For a boy, the shinkansen coming to his town is super big news—he can't just sit still, and before he knows it, his body is already moving. That's the feeling this ad captures.
キリン プラズマ乳酸菌 | SPECIAL STUDENT | 2016
Dekushi! Barrier! Short sleeves and shorts! There was always one of those kids in your elementary school class. The "Dekushi master" who whips out mysterious sound effects, the "short-sleeves-and-shorts kid" who shows up 365 days a year—snow or storm—in short sleeves and shorts, the girls who perform the hand-clapping game Alps Ichimanjaku at lightning speed. It's so nostalgic I can't stop laughing.
ライオン | 働く女性への応援歌 | 2016
It's a train at night. Women heading home begin to sing, one by one. Set to a reworked version of the song "Ano Subarashii Ai wo Mou Ichido" ("That Wonderful Love, Once More"), the new lyrics quietly unfold: "I worked hard today, no excuses."
ナイキジャパン | ざわつかせろ | 2016
If someone stood up to give the opening oath at Koshien and said, "Please pay attention to me," the whole stadium would start buzzing. Nike knows exactly how to pick a fight.
キリン 午後の紅茶 | あいたいって、あたためたいだ。 | 2016
A quiet train platform. A high school girl with white headphones suddenly bursts into song, loud enough to reach the skies over Mount Aso. There's a bit of a puzzle about whether Moka Kamishiraishi's character could actually hear the sound of a drink dropping from the vending machine, which leaves you a little unsettled—but even setting that aside, this is still a wonderful piece of work.
キングレコード | RUN and RUN MV for Smartphone | 2016
You hold your phone upright and watch the screen, and without you noticing, it shifts from the lock screen to Twitter, FaceTime, and the camera app. A music video where six members run around inside all of it. This is exactly what you'd call a "now that's a clever idea" moment.
銀のさら | 秘密篇 | 2016
I honestly can't understand why Ginnosara made this commercial. But that's exactly what's great about it. The world would be a richer place with more things like this in it.
ミエライス | いただきます、ミエライス | 2016
A local commercial that feels truly local. Honestly, that alone tells you everything - I think this is exactly what I'd been wanting to see.
ANA | ボルト、登場編 | 2016
In February 2016, ANA built a commercial around Usain Bolt, "the fastest man alive," to promote Tokyo 2020. Bolt dances his own original moves to Kenji Sawada's song "TOKIO," and at the end asks "Boruten-deru?" It's... well, honestly, a bit of a head-scratcher of a commercial.
カロリーメイト | 夢の背中 | 2016
This CALORIEMATE commercial cheering on students taking entrance exams follows a year in the life of a son grinding through a second attempt at university entrance exams, from the mother's point of view—from the day he decides to repeat the year to the day of the exam itself. Niiro Murakami, who shaved off his long hair for the role, plays the son, while Misuzu Kanno plays the mother who watches over him with quiet warmth. The soundtrack features Ryota Fujimaki's own cover of Remioromen's song "March 9th."
東芝 | LED 10年カレンダー（あなたとLEDの10年） | 2016
An LED bulb that lasts 10 years. How do you communicate that kind of lifespan? Toshiba chose "everyday life" over numbers. Across 3,653 days of windows, you see a family's irreplaceable daily moments play out.
湖池屋 | ジャガッツ 主婦と犯人 | 2016
You know that scene from crime dramas where they rewind the security camera footage to check the culprit's face? That's exactly what happens here. But what's caught on screen is a group of housewives talking about a product. Every time the tape rewinds, they repeat the same line: "Koikeya's Jagatz—these ridges are what make it so tasty." Just 15 seconds long, but it's an invention.
Spotify | New Music, New Me | 2016
Mom is chopping scallions in the kitchen. That's all there is to it — but set it to Takkyu Ishino's techno, and the whole world changes.
リクルート フロム・エー ナビ | 熱唱 | 2016
Right at the start of 2016, a new series for From A Navi kicked off with a back-and-forth between Mayu Matsuoka and Panda Ichiro. Matsuoka hears Panda Ichiro singing live and blurts out "Tenryu!" - that surreal moment was the best part.
サガミオリジナル | LOVE DISTANCE | 2016
A couple in a long-distance relationship start running toward each other from opposite sides of the screen. A number starting at 1.2 billion millimeters keeps shrinking as they get closer. I never imagined that the number it ends on, 0.02, could hit this hard.
adidas | I GOT THIS | 2016
Nana Eikura's trained body is godlike without any exaggeration, and the film makes you want to start training yourself, whether you like it or not.
HONDA | 試す人になろう | 2015
This ad just seemed to appear out of nowhere. It runs 120 seconds, calmly showing people working at Honda's research facility, nothing more. And yet somehow it has this strange power to make you think, "I want to work here."
キリン | メッツ | 2015
Just go with it. That's basically the whole approach, and there's something refreshing about how committed it is. When Kirin Mets relaunched in 2015, this "Entrance" ad is what came out of it. Dragon Ball, Dempagumi.inc, Nobunari Oda, Gachapin... pop culture icons dance, burst with energy, and belt out "We want Mets!" over and over in this 30-second spot. It strips away almost every detailed message, throwing nothing at you but the sheer presence of "This is Mets!"
サントリー BOSS | ヘッドライト・テールライト | 2015
Less weirdness, more love — that's what I felt watching this commercial when it aired at the end of 2015. The Alien Jones series started out as a bit of an odd concept, but it's been quietly turning into "the way things just are," and honestly, I'm starting to think it's heading toward becoming a truly moving epic. I'm looking forward to it. Really looking forward to it.
リクルート | 山田悠子の就職活動 | 2015
A crowd in blue uniforms is shouting "Yamada! Yamada!" at a giant screen, just like soccer fans cheering on Japan's national team. But what's on screen isn't a match — it's Yuko Yamada, in a job-hunting suit, going through her job search. Her awkward face during an interview, getting her ID photo taken — it's all up there on the screen, and the crowd is cheering for every bit of it.
SANKO（三幸興業株式会社） | 電車は転職できない。 | 2015
A train that looks like something out of Thomas the Tank Engine is singing. The cute, cozy visuals are soothing on their own, but then one word—"but"—suddenly turns the whole thing bittersweet.
ファンタ | ファンタだよ！TVに出よう | 2015
Collecting the "wouldn't it be great if..." wishes of teens in their 10s and then airing the chosen ones as nationwide TV commercials is quite the ambitious move. The boy who drew a face on his belly and ate marshmallows was great, but this one is also incredibly funny.
東京メトロ | TOKYO HEART | 2015
Whether Gakki is cute or not doesn't really matter here (though she totally is) — what you should really pay attention to is the high school girl's acting at 0:32.
キユーピー | コンビニエント | 2015
This is an ad for a condiment, but it never says "delicious" or "good for you." The only word it says is "convenient." Mariko Takahashi just stands there on screen, and that's it.
東京ディズニーリゾート | Where dreams come true 夢はつづく | 2015
You see a lot of commercials these days that fast-forward through someone's whole life, but this Disney one really stuck with me. It's all animation, and the fact that it manages to capture one woman's entire life in just 30 seconds is enough to bring tears to your eyes.
江崎グリコ | オトナグリコ アーモンドピーク | 2015
This ad turns a pitch competition between ad agencies into the ad itself. Nanako Matsushima and Satoshi Tsumabuki play creative directors from rival agencies, fighting over Glico's business, in this behind-the-scenes story. You get a peek into the industry (surely exaggerated quite a bit), and that alone makes it fun to watch.
NIKE | JASARI (NIKEiD) - If you were a boy | 2015
Made in Japan, but you'd never guess it. A spot that's NIKE through and through.
Honda | 負けるもんか | 2015
"Effort doesn't pay off. Dreams don't come true. So what?" I still remember how many people this corporate ad moved when it came out. In just 60 seconds, it lines up generations of Honda cars and motorcycles at Twin Ring Motegi, and through them, the spirit of Soichiro Honda comes through as one powerful message.
au | SYNC YELL | 2015
There was no time to wonder how much of this was set up and how much was real, because the tears were already coming early on.
セキスイハイム | かみさま | 2015
"When will the Tokai earthquake actually hit... what year, what month, what day! God, please tell us!" It's the kind of question anyone living in the Tokai region has probably wondered about at some point—and this ad turns it into a full-blown comedy sketch. And somehow, the product being sold is houses.
三菱自動車 | Heart-Beat Motors | 2015
Cars that make your heart race, cars that make you excited. That's really the heart of it, isn't it—something that stirs your instincts. Honestly, I think it's fine for cars to be about that.
サントリー天然水 | 信じられる水の山から（阿蘇） | 2015
There's a moment in the middle of a run of commercials when your eyes suddenly stop on one. It feels off, somehow, but in a good way. This is a spot that depicts natural water springing up from a mountain, drawn in soft, gentle animation.
高橋酒造 | SHIRO Cheers System | 2015
The cuteness here is just unreal. I love the casting, the choreography, the song, the direction—everything—so much that I've lost count of how many times I've watched it. It might honestly be the video I've watched the most so far this century. Yuichi Kodama really is something else.
三井不動産 | 芝浦アイランド | 2015
SMAP appeared in this commercial as voice-only talent, which was quite a lineup. In the ad, they say "please search for Shibaura's island," pointing viewers toward the brand's website.
earth music&ecology | 合唱 | 2015
Aoi Miyazaki singing Miyuki Nakajima's "Nobody Is Right" — that alone could have carried the whole commercial. And yet something about it bothered me.
SUUMO | 足跡 | 2015
A 2015 SUUMO commercial starring Yoshinori Okada. A child appears who feels almost like a fairy, yet also completely real, reflecting the father's state of mind. After he asks "Is that true?", the simple reply "It's true, I know it." catches you off guard and brings the tears.
ジョージア | 男ですいません | 2015
"Sorry for being a man." The moment I saw this line, I let out a groan. This copy is just too perfect. You can't quite say "Being a man is the best!"—but you also kind of think "I'm glad I was born a man." This line wraps up that subtle, conflicted feeling of modern Japanese men in a relaxed, self-deprecating way.
JINS | はじめてのJINS | 2015
Just three seconds. But those three seconds are incredible. Yui Aoi's expression from 0:15 to 0:18 is simply irresistible.
富士通 | FMV | 2015
Thinking about Kimura Takuya reminded me of this one. The combination of a handsome lead and genuinely unsettling weirdness left a lasting impression on me, and this series still sticks in my mind.
マルコメ | 料亭の味 カップみそ汁 夜食篇 | 2015
The third animated commercial in the "Ryotei no Aji" series came out in February 2015. A daughter on edge from exam prep, and a father who's lost the knack for talking to her. So late one night, he quietly puts together a midnight snack for her. That's the whole story. And somehow that's exactly what makes it so moving.
BUYMA | A Kind Drone | 2015
Two completely naked ballet dancers move beautifully while four drones chase after them, covering up exactly the parts that need covering, for a solid minute and a half. This absurd little world is a perfect example of "doing something stylish." Maybe it rode the wave of a popular "don't worry, it's fine" catchphrase of the time, but this video, made by Dentsu, goes so far over the top it stops being a joke and starts being art.
NTT DOCOMO | 3-SECOND COOKING | 2015
A shrimp flies through the air, passes through flames, and becomes shrimp tempura in 3 seconds. For the dumplings, the ingredients collide in midair and come together in 2.244 seconds. No CG, all real footage. The only thing you can say watching this video is "what is DOCOMO even doing" — and it still walked away with three Golds at Cannes.
東山堂 | TOSANDO music「披露宴」篇 | 2014
A familiar situation, a familiar song. And yet it makes you cry. There's no surprise twist, no clever trick—so why does it grip your heart so tightly? Because everything lives in the acting and the direction.
リクルートホールディングス | すべての人生が、すばらしい。 | 2014
A commercial that declares life is a marathon—then immediately sets out to demolish its own metaphor.
キリン のどごし〈生〉 | 夢のドリーム プロ野球 | 2014
I cried watching the making-of for the baseball edition. The Jackie Chan edition was fantastic too, but this one really gets me. Watching a celebrity take on something huge is moving, but somehow it's even more moving when ordinary people chase an ordinary—or maybe slightly oversized—dream. I think it's because the people at the center feel so much closer to us.
キリン | 企業広告「応援する者」篇 | 2014
This commercial, released on June 2, 2014, covers everything from a birth to Shinji Kagawa pulling on the national team's number 10 jersey, all in just two minutes. Only two minutes. But every single second of it is packed with feeling. You might think, what a luxury to tell a story this way—but then again, maybe you need exactly this kind of luxury to get this far. At the edge of the frame, always in the eyeline of whoever is sending their support, is the back of a boy's head, his back, slowly growing up. That's why it's so easy to feel for him.