Our TV CM: FRIXION

     Hi, we are Mie, Masako, Chieko, and Natsumi. We are members of Group 2. We made an original commercial of FRIXION, so please watch it.

If you can't see the video above, click here.
 

     FRIXION is a pen made by PILOT. It's a special pen because we can erase the letters over and over by using the special eraser at the end of a pen. There are many colors, and a lot of kinds like ballpoint pen, marker, and highlighter. If you want to know more about the pen, please check here. FRIXION is so useful and you can choose a pen which fits your situation.
 

Blog#9: Commercial Images on Web Sites

   Hi, I'm Natsumi Tsubota. I'll tell you about the way of advertisement what I admired is the commercial images on the web sites.When we use smartphones or surf the Web sites at home, we will see such advertisements every time.Those images were put onto the top or bottom of the site, so we can't avoid to see it.

←This is it.

    Sometimes these ads are too nasty. If possible, I never want to see it but I access to the Internet many times a day so my eyes tell me the information of the ads. Captive users for smartphones or PCs can become brainwashed consumers. So I think it's better way to  make publicity for something.

blog#10: Nissan NOTE

     Hi I'm Natsumi Tsubota. I'll introduce about TV commercial of NOTE produced by nissan.　What's Nissan NOTE? It's a hybrid car which has a spacious area in the rear seat. The commercial can inform us the major characteristics of the car.

TV CM:Nissan NOTE


Kazunari Ninomiya, a member of famous idol groupArashi starred it. In the first car, he is an unmarried man. He dreams while driving that he will probably marry and have some children one day. In the next car, he dresses in a tuxedo and his wife dresses in a wedding dress and sit comfortably in the front seat.And in the third car, his two daughters arrays themselves in their tutu( clothing worn by a ballerina) and they’re practicing ballet steps. It means the spacious area of the rear seat is enough to stretch one's limbs.
There’s an end of it, but we can imagine the sequel of the story. People will remember the name Nissan NOTE from thinking about the story.

 

The commercial is very good story as a short drama, so if you haven’t seen it ever, you should click the Arrow button in the center of  the video to start playback!!

Blog#10 AXE

Hi this is Kana. Today we can see a lot of TV commercial everywhere. For example; at home, in the train, even on the street. It’s the most effective way to spread new product in Japan. I focused on fragrance commercial. The product name is “AXE”. Do you know this product? AXE is very popular with young men in Europe and U.S.A. In Japan, Unilever Japan K.K. has been selling it from three years ago.

 

 

The story of the ad is following sentences.

There is a man, who is quite common. Before he left his home, he has used the AXE. When he is going to buy a hot dog, the saleslady gave her phone number to him by writing with ketchup. Because of that he was giving off the AXE fragrance.

http://youtu.be/-q58MeqoZmU

 

The reason why I chose is that it has a very strong impression. For us, Japanese, men’s fragrance is not so popular. So only to see the men’s fragrance, I paid attention to AXE’s commercial. In addition, this story is very interesting. I like the last scene which the girl makes the calling sine by hand. This commercial is fascinating to young men. This make men rally want to buy this. So, this is very good commercial.

Blog #10: Green DA・KA・RA

Hi, this is Mie. I’ll introduce about “Green DA・KA・RA” TV commercial. Have you ever bought the product? Or, have you ever seen the commercial on TV? “Green DA・KA・RA” is sports drink. It is made from 11 kinds of fruits and vegetables, and it contains a lot of minerals. The taste of it is grapefruit, and it’s not too strong taste. I like it! Suntory, a famous beverage company, made this product.

          The story of this commercial is that a little girl runs about in a small market, and gets a lot of “iimono” (in English, good things for health) from people. The little girl is called Green DA・KA・RA chan, and she makes “Green DA・KA・RA” from the “iimono”. She is very cute, and good music is used in this commercial. Since I like Green DA・KA・RA chan and the music, I chose to introduce. The good points of this commercial are memorable music, a cute girl, and simple atmosphere. There points impressed viewers that the product is good for health. Green DA・KA・RA chan doesn’t belong any theatrical agencies, and she is a relative of a production staff. Her childishness and unrestrained behavior are one of the attractions of this commercial.

          If you have never seen the commercial on TV, you really should see it!!!

Here is a HP filled with information about Green DA・KA・RA. 

Blog #10: Maruchanseimen

Hello! I'm Chieko. Do you like instant noodles? I want to introduce "Maruchanseimen". This has been popular with people of all ages. There are four tastes, such as soy sauce, miso, tonkotsu, and salt. Toyo Suisan company whose founder is Kazuo Mori had developped the new products for about five years and Maruchanseimen was sold last November.

 

Toyo Suisan company succeeded in drying up the noodles by hot wind without frying them with oil. Consequently, the noodles are close to uncooked noodles. This is one of the most favorite CMs.

This story is Maruchanseimen is very delicious and a man is absorbed in eating it, so he doesn't notice that changing his wife for another woman. The interesting point is that his face is unchanged though he sees her. Toyo Suisan have a confidence in Maruchanseimen because "Delicious" is repeated many times and "If you think it untrue, please try it." an actor said. I was interested in Maruchanseimen when I heard them, so I chose this. Repeating same words or catchphrases is effective to sell many products. I think it is good! Maruchanseimen was successful!

This is the link. Please click it!



Blog#9:Advertisent

Hi, this is Kana. I'll tell you about the information of web site advertisement.  The name is PPC. Its mean is Pay Par Click. Please take a look at this picture. This shows the example of PPC. 
There are good points. It can  prepare good information to the searcher. In addition, It costs very low. If you want to put some ad in the site, you can do with 20yen or more. Compared with the news paper ad which costs ¥100000 for one time, it is very cheap. 

Blog #9: Pocket Tissues

   Hi, this is Mie. I tell you about an interesting  advertisement in Japan, "distributing pocket tissues". Pocket tissues are often used for advertisement in Japan. Especially in the midtown area, we can see  people who distribute pocket tissues to passersby for free. Have you ever taken a pocket tissue?

Advertising pocket tissues are printed shops’ name or notice on the bags, or put small leaflets in the bags. Distributing pocket tissues is common advertising way in Japan, but unique way in the world. When UNIQLO opened a new store in New York, advertising pocket tissues were distributed in NY Fifth Avenue. New Yorkers were surprised to take them because there isn’t such a custom in the U.S. Distributing pocket tissues for free is a refreshing surprise for New Yorkers.

↑ This is UNIQLO PR in NY

   I think this advertisement is an effective way, for people take a pocket tissue easier than an only leaflet. Actually, leaflets are throwaway after once reading, but pocket tissues can be used, and people can see the advertisement a number of times. To sum up, distributing pocket tissues is a unique, effective and interesting advertisement in Japan. 

Blog #9: BICQLO

Hi, I'm Chieko. Do you know the new shop of the title? It was called "BICQLO" and it opened on the east side of Shinjuku Station on September 27. "UNIQLO"and "BICCAMERA" were united to form one shop(one building)!

As you know, UNIQLO is clothing store and BICCAMERA is appliance dealer. These are big companies, so BICQLO carried on a large-scale advertising in order to attract more people. I'm going to write about its advertisements. First, in Shinjuku Station, there were a large number of names, logos, and catchphrases. Look at this photo! We can see them everywhere, such as on the floor, the wall, and the ceiling.

 

 Next, there were many logos outside of the Yamanote train. Also, people would see many a lot of advertising posters hung in the train. 



 

Japanese companies tend to put many advertisements into some places for a short time. They advertise not only a new shop but a new song or product in the same way. This is good because people who saw the same advertisement many times want to go there, listen, or buy it. In business, it is very important. However, I'm sometimes sick of seeing  the same advertisement. Now, it's about a month since BICQLO opened, so I guess that there are not many logos in Shinjuku Station. I want to go to BICQLO because I knew about this new shop!

If you want to know about it, please click it!

Blog #5: Guggenheim Museum Bilbao

　　Today I’ll introduce about Guggenheim Museum Bilbao.Guggenheim Museum Bilbao is a museum of modern and innovative art, designed by Canadian-American architect Frank Gehry and located in Bilbao,Basque Country, Spain.

　　　The museum’s wall has many characteristic curves designed to catch the light.The randomness of the appearing the walls makes inside and atrium of the building light-filled.And the atrium,which Gehry nicknamed The Flower because of its shape,serves as the organizing center of the museum.
　　　It seems misterious when sun set because of lights and shadows made by the curves.And the atrium is seen like a room that has the protection of gods.It’s beautiful!!!
I want to visit there once:)

 

 

Blog #6: Instagram

    Hi I'm Natsumi.Today I'll introduce about kind of social media,"Instagram".It's a mobile application to take and edit pictures with 3D effect.It's a most popular photo sharing system!You can make your picture more inpressive and attractive. This application is getting popularity in the world day by day.
    And you can uproad your favarite photos to family or friends who have common interest.And If the photos are great,the friends can say "like" to the photos.By the system, you can make  more friends or can advertise your company's products to whole world by sharing your photos.
    For my surprise,this application can be bought free!!If you still haven't get it,you shoud visit playstore page and get Instagram!:)

Get Instagram

Blog #8: The Avengers

     Hi, this is Mie. I saw a movie, "The Avengers" this summer. Do you know about the Avengers? In this movie, the super heroes gather and fight with an enemy. There are movies that each heroes are main characters, and I saw all of these. My favorite hero is the Iron man (the red one in the picture). He is frivolous and a womanizer, but he has courage and power. He fights at the risk of his life, that's very cool!! However, I think the strongest hero is not Iron man, it is Hulk (the green gigantic man). His punch is very very powerful!!

     This movie is powerful, thrilling and exciting! So I want you to see it at theaters or on DVD!! If you want to know about "The Avengers" more, please visit this site. You can see trailers.

Blog #7: Hong Kong

      Hi, this is Mie Sato. I went to Hong Kong this summer with my friend. This was my first visit there, and I stayed 3 days. Hong Kong was wonderful place, and I enjoyed very much! I'm going to tell some memories.

     This is a view from the Victoria Peak. The first day, I went sightseeing. The Victoria Peak is a mountain on Hong Kong Island, rising to 554m. It was cloudy, but I could enjoy a beautiful urban view of Hong Kong. The night scape is also famous in Hong Kong, it called "a view worth a million dollars". I put a picture of the night scape. It is fabulous, isn't it?

     The second day, I went to Hong Kong Disneyland. It was a smaller than Japanese Disneyland. I took a picture with Mickey & Minnie, and enjoyed some shows and parades of Disney characters. It was a happy time. It was interesting that Mickey spoke Cantonese!

       Cantonese and English are official languages in Hong Kong. I can't speak and understand Canonese, so I spoke English to communicate with the Cantonese. It was a little hard because some people couldn't understand English though it is one of the official languages. But to sum up, it was a amazing, wonderful trip. I could go many places, and I could eat delicious foods like "dim sum" (means Chinese snacks with tea). Someday I want to visit Hong Kong again!

Blog #8: Tokyo Disney Sea

Hi! This is Chieko. I am going to write about one of the memories of this summer. I went to Tokyo Disney Sea with my family in September. Halloween had already started in Disney Resort, I was surprised that there were many many people in spite of Tuesday! It was a hot day. Some people put a parasol because of the glaring sunlight. I happened to pass by the front of the new attraction which opened in this summer. As you know, this is "TOY STORY MANIA!". It was very popular, so fast pass run out soon.

 

 

My favorite is "Big Band Beat". It is a show for about thirty minutes and it is the subject of jazz between 1920s and 1940s. I have seen it many times, but I am impressed with it whenever I see it. Their performance made me very exciting because singers have a powerful voice and dancers perform perfectly! I wanted to see a tap dance more. Sometimes, Disney characters, such as Micky, Minnie, Daisy, and Mary appeared on the stage with singing and dancing. They were cute. In the last , Micky beats a drum. He is very cool. The theater resounded with the audience's clapping. Though I wanted to insert a picture in this post, I couldn't because taking pictures is banned in the theater. Instead of it, I insert the picture of Micky illuminated at night.

 

We stayed overnight at Tokyo Bay Maihama Hotel Club Resort for the first time. It belongs to Disney Official Hotel. Next day, we shopped in souvenir shop of the hotel and went home. Of course, we were tired, but we spent special two days!

We can gain dream in this themepark. Please click this.



  

 

 



Blog#8: The King's Speach

Hi, I’m Kana Hirata. Today I will try to write synopsis and review about one scene of “The king's speech”. Do you know this movie? It's very famous because of its true story of the British Royal Family and I like it. So, I recommend watching this movie!!

Synopsis

This movie is a 2010 British historical drama film directed by Tom Hooper and written by David Seidler. Colin Firth plays King George VI who was suffering from a stammer, and Lionel Logue, an Australian speech therapist, played by Geoffrey Rush. The men become friend as they work together, and after his brother abdicates the throne, the new King relies on Logue to help him make his first wartime radio broadcast on Britain's declaration of war on Germany in 1939. This scene is the story which happened between King George VI and Logue, an Australian speech therapist, during preparations for his coronation in Westminster Abbey. He had still worried about to be King. Then Logue sat on his King seat and made him provocative. He had realized that he can use eloquence letter after he shouted at Logue.

Review

King George VI was born in the age of the radio. Hitler lives the same age. He had a good skill of speech and it made him to get big power. British people had wanted the special speech made by King George VI for their peace of mind. So, He had to speak in front of the audience and make a good speech for them. However, his stuttering interrupted his work. Then he started the lesson with Logue which is very strange. This film is the true story of his struggle for the stuttering. You can feel the good relationship between King George VI and Logue from this scene. Because we can guess that before Logue made King George VI angry, he had known that King must get mad and shout at him. He wanted King to realize his valiant voice. Actually, after shouting, King got confidence and, successes the coronation. So, this scene is very important and it makes our heart warm.

click here! this is a short movie.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAm7gRXFiRo&feature=player_detailpage

Blog#7 The rising sun flug

Hi, this is Kana. Do you know about the meaning of our flag? Maybe few people can answer this question. During this summer my French　friends asked me what is the meaning of your flag. Then I couldn’t answer at that time. So, I searched some information about it. Let’s tell you about the meaning of our Japanese flag in following sentences.

 

 Our flag is consisted of two colors, red and white. You can see from the design it symbolize the sun. In addition, it is the rising sun because of the red, when you see the sun near by the horizon it looks red. For this reason, it called “The rising sun flag” in English. Also, red and white traditionally means happy and auspicious in Japan. From the myth ages, Japanese people have understood ourselves, as the country of rising sun, the base place of the sun rising. For instance, in 1160, Minamoto Yoritomo and Yoshiie use fan which is written the symbol of the sun. In short, this symbol is very familiar with Japanese people. This is the means of our flags. It’s very simple and easy to understand. Now that I understand our flag’s meaning, I have to explain this for my friends. Also, I want to introduce this to someone who meet in the future and don’t know about our flag’s meaning. I hope this article will become good tip for my blog mates. Thanks.

 

Blog #8: My Favorite Cosmetics Shop

    Hi I'm Natsumi Tsubota.Today I'll introduce about my favorite cosmetics shop "LUSH".Their products are mede from fresh,organic fruit and vegetables,the finest essential oils.And,they're made by hand using.So we can use all of LUSH products at ease.And the bathbombs and body soap,body creams smells so good!!The sweet or spicy fragrance makes me feel relaxed.
    I recomend you to use LUSH items when you feel tired.It'll give you happy and relaxed bath time.

LUSH offisial site

Blog #1: My Hobby

    Hi I'm Natsumi Tsubota.This time I'll introduce about my hobby,shogi.Shogi is a board game like chessIn shogi,the two players move their pieces alternately in order to win the gae by checkmating the opponent first.There are two most important rules.First, you can use the opponent's piece you have captured as yours.Second,when your piece enters the opponent's camp,it will take on the same function as the Gold.
    I was teached this game by father four years ago,but I have never defeated him yet.In shogi,I have to show I would lose after I'm certain that I'll be defeated the game.it is vexing to have to admit I lose,but thinking about the way to win is very fun!

the League of shogi

Blog #7: The Dancers I respect

    Hi I'm Natsumi Tsubota.I'll introduce about korean pop music dancer "BTICK".BTICK is five-man group.They used be merely a fan of Korean singer group SHINee.They want to be like SHINee,so they started to follow SHINee's dance.8 months after they formed BTICK,they won the 1st prize of k-pop cover dance contest in Korea.The result made BTICK famous.After the contest,they became to appear on television.
   Now,some of them work as back dancers of SHINee.They realize their dream!I go to some events once a month to see their dance.It makes me happy!!
BTICK official blog

Blog#7: My boom

Hi, this is Chieko Yokobori. I'll write about my boom. My family bought "Wii" about a month ago. Do you know it? It is popular with people of all ages.

These are the remote controls of Wii.

Wii is a home video game sold by Nintendo and the price is about 20,000 yen. It is expensive, but I think that we can play as a game for a party. There are many game softwares, such as table tennis, golf, mini games. I especially recommend "JUST DANCE". Now, a set of Wii and JUST DANCE is sold at reasonable price in the shops. We can dance with watching choreography. There are the words on the screen, so we can sing the song together if we don't dance. Also, most of the song are sung by the singer's own. We can enjoy as if we go to karaoke.

This is the TV screen. This song is "Bo Peep Bo Peep" by T-Ara

My younger sister dances with Wii and JUST DANCE almost every day. Because of her good rhythmic sense, she often gets a high score! I am not good at dancing, so I hardly get a high score. I want to dance well. I like Wii and JUST DANCE very much because we can readily exercise indoors. I think that we can get two things at the same time, exercise and pleasure!

If you want to know more about, please click here!

Blog #6: Seafood bowl

Hi! This is Chieko Yokobori. I'll talk about seafood bowl called kaisen-don in Japanese. It is vinegared rice topped with raw fish in a bowl. The ingredients of seafood bowl are mainly tuna, salmon, scallop, shrimp, octopus, squid, and seasoned sea urchin eggs and so on. It looks attractive because of colorful ingredients, but they are luxury food, so the price of seafood bowl is not cheap. I think this is eaten in celebration of special event, such as the New Year. The seafood bowl is very delicious. I have eaten seafood bowl many times from my childhood. I like salmon very much! While some people dip raw fish in soy sauce, I pour soy sauce on the seafood bowl when I eat it. I think hot green tea is the best suitable for seafood bowl.
This is the seafood bowl which I ate.

I love Japanese food because it is delicious and healthy. Tsukiji is the wholesale market and a lot of fresh fish and shell are sent from all over Japan to there. I want to eat seafood bowl there some time.

She is my favorite songer, BENI. Her voice is very beautiful! When I listen to her song, I can relax.

This is one of the best songs of her cover album.

#6 Kimono

Hi! This is Kana!

This time I would like to introduce about Kimono. Kimono concerned Japanese culture deeply. Kimono is consisted of  underwear, obi,kimono, hair ornament, and socks called tabi. We sometimes put it on at celebration, for instance; marriage, graduation ceremony, coming-of-age celebration. Since I’m going to dress long-sleeved kimono for my coming-of –age celebration, I’m interested in Kimono. It has long history. The first Kimono culture was born in Azutimomoyama era. Then there was no Obi like today’s style. This is the image.

The style which we used to see is established at Edo era. The width of obi became longer than ever, and Ohashyori started to use. Also, women began to put their hair up. There were so many kinds of color valuations, a lot of ways to dye fabric were invented in Edo era.Today, Kimono is rare to see in daily, but everybody knows it. It is one of the most famous Japanese culture of which we proud. Summer is going to come soon. I want to wear Yukata for summer festival.If you want to know more, please see this.

Blog #6: Lang-8

   Hi, this is Mie Sato. Today I want to introduce "Lang-8". Do you know about this? Lang-8 is a social networking service for foreign language learners. In this SNS, foreign language learners can have their journal or something looked over and corrected by native speakers. Let me give an example; I'm studying English, and I write a journal in English. I contribute it to Lang-8, then native English speakers correct my journal. I can know my mistakes, and I can improve my English. On the contrary, I can correct Japanese learners' writing as a native Japanese speaker. I can help foreigners' learning. Of course, we can use this SNS for free! I haven't had the account yet, but I want to use Lang-8 for my study. Lang-8 is a very useful SNS, isn't it?

Go to Lang-8 and use it!!

Blog#5: Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health

   Hi, this is Mie Sato. I chose this building to introduce a work of Frank Gehry. This is Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health in Las Vegas, Nevada. This is a clinic and laboratory of brain especially Alzheimer dementia, and opened on July 13, 2009. Frank Gehry imaged brain cells, and designed this. Waving and complicated walls are interesting. Frank Gehry also imaged high regard for lost things and hope of discovering a sickness. I wonder about a shape of rooms. The shape is irregular, but this is helpful for treatment and discovery of sickness. I think it doesn't looks like a clinic. But it is very interesting, and if I go to this center, I will be inspired something. This looks like good for brains. I want to see this building someday.

If you want to know about this more, click here.

Blog #4: MARTa Museum

Hi! This is Chieko Yokobori. I will introduce MARTa Museum in Herford, Germany. It is one of the works of Frank Gehry and it was built as an art and design museum in 2005. In the early twentieth century, it is said that the furniture industry flourished in Herford. The main aim of this museum is to boost economy, so a lot of people come from a distance.

This is the photo of the museum! The color of the entire museum is light brown and I am interested in the shape of it.

Also, there are windows in all ceilings and the inside of the museum is bright because the sun shines through them.

Though I didn't know much about Frank Gehry, his works are very interesting! I want to visit and see MARTa Museum directly.

This is the link of this museum. Please see this!

Blog#4:ROYAL ONTARIO MUSEUM

Hi, this is Kana Hirata. I saw a lot of building materials today, and I decided to introduce about ROYAL ONTARIO MUSEUM. Since I'll go study abroad to Toronto in this summer, I chose the museum located in the city of Toronto. ROYAL ONTARIO MUSEUM was built in 1912 and opened in 1914. It is usually called ROM. Works of art that exhibits a wide range of fields from archeology to art. In 2003 the new building was added to this architecture, in 2007 it was complete. This new sturacture is called Michael Lee-Chin Crystal, which was designed by Daniel Libeskind. Daniel is Poland system American. I think this architect is fusion of old and new. It is beautiful. This is the photo of the museum.

The old building connect to the new building by corridor.
Approximately 3,500 tons of steel and 38 tons of bolts were used to create the skeleton, and roughly 9,000 cubic metres of concrete were poured.

Daniel Libeskind

Entrance fee: $ 5 admission fee will be one hour before closing time later than 16:30 every Friday.

Place:100 Queen's Park　Tel: 416-586-5549 　

Web:http://www.rom.on.ca

Blog #3: My part-time job

   Hi, this is Mie Sato. I introduce about my part-time job to you. I have a part-time job at Baskin-Robbins, and I work 3 or 4 times a week. I enjoy my job because I can serve many people like children, elders and visitors from abroad and so on. But the other hand, I have serious problems like wrist pain, making hands rough, and job stress. My main job is selling ice creams. I take an order, scoop ice creams in a ball and hand to customers. Sometimes ice creams are very hard, and when the store is packed with customers, I have to scoop many times. And, I get tired because I always have to smile during working, but as a result, I could overcome my shyness a little. The motto of Baskin-Robbins is "We make people happy through ice creams", and I can be happy when the customers smile through ice creams!

This is Baskin-Robbins ice creams.

Popping Shower and Very Berry Strawberry,

                                                          these are very popular flavors!

This is Baskin-Robbins (US) site.

Blog #3: My favorite character

Hi,I'm Natsumi Tsubota.I'll introduce about my favorite character,Moomin.He is a main character of  "Mumintrollet(comics of Finland)".The reason why I love them is that they look so cute!!!They have plump bodies,charming eyes and pure white skin. When I want to reduce stress,I read their easygoing life.It makes me optimistic:)Please read them once!You'll like it!!

Moominvalley official site

Blog #2: My favorite restaurant

Hi, I'm Chieko Yokobori. I will introduce you to my favorite restaurant. It is an Italian restaurant called Fiorentina. It's in Hotel Mets Mejiro which is in next to Mejiro station. I had a dinner together with the members and teachers of my circle in March. We are supposed to do to see off the fourth students and congratulate their graduation in every year. I ate a three-course including coffee or tea. I paid about 3,200 yen for it. Fiorentina is a little expensive restaurant, so the food was very delicious, but it's quantity was large. Fiorentina's pasta made me feel full very much and I couldn't eat a roll.


This is the dessert that I ate then! This is a caramel cake.

If you want to know about Fiorentina, please click here!

This is my favorite song. Please watch and listen it.