Japanese Commercials

I went to Japan thinking the TV would be all anime and game shows. Instead it was talk shows about food and people stretching on mats. Not much better than what airs in Germany, just in a language I didn’t understand. The only thing that actually worked was the commercials.

There’s something different about them. They’re not selling you so much as telling you something. A beer ad becomes a story about salarymen, a convenience store becomes a world. The pacing is generous—they let things breathe. No constant cutting, no manipulative soundtrack dragging you along. Just images that trust you’ll pay attention for thirty seconds.

Part of it’s probably cultural. Less cynicism about advertising itself, less meta-irony. The brands seem to assume people actually watch, so they put in the work. Every commercial looks like it cost something, not because they’re throwing money around, but because there’s actual thinking behind it.

I miss that kind of craft. Even the trash channels back home could steal from it.