Dole Banana in Japan now hiring…$11,000 / hour

Last year I wrote a post about Dominos Pizza in Japan hiring one person for their TV commercial for ¥2,500,000 (about US$31,000) per hour.

Dominos Pizza chose that amount (¥2500000) because it was the chain’s 25th anniversary in Japan.

Well, now Dole Banana in Japan is looking to hire one person to be in their TV ads. The position will pay ¥877,000 (about US$11,437) per hour.

¥877,000 was chosen because “8-7-7” can be pronounced, in Japanese, as “ba-na-na“.

The ad for the position with "Dole Banana, Japan" that pays ¥877,000 / hour.

To apply for this position, you must write a self-promoting message on the “Dole, Japan” Facebook page and then click the 「いいね！」 (“Like”) button.

But if you want to apply for this position, you should be in Japan (or able / willing to come here soon) and be legally eligible to work in Japan. The ability to speak Japanese is also a requirement, most likely.

Also, I’m sure that they’re looking for someone with charisma and who has no problem with the self-deprecating TV commercials that Dole Japan is known for.

Famous Japanese celebrity Shingo Katori has been the "face" of Dole, Japan for years now.

“Summer Sonic Boom” and Marty Friedman in FANTA band

The American rock band KISS released a new album last autumn titled “Sonic Boom“.

And every summer for the past ten years or so, there is a rock festival in Japan called “Summer Sonic” (actually this is one of the numerous rock festivals in Japan every year).

Well, my good friend Masa told me today that KISS is planning to play at this year’s “Summer Sonic” festival near Tokyo this August to promote their “Sonic Boom” album.

Maybe they’ll call their shows at the festival the “Summer Sonic Boom Tour“. 😉

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If you like heavy metal music you probably recognize the name Marty Friedman.

He used to be the guitarist for the American heavy metal band “Megadeth“.

Marty played on Megadeth's excellent "Countdown To Extinction" album.

Marty Friedman has a Japanese wife and can speak Japanese. When he was a member of Megadeth, he would do all of the band’s media interviews in Japanese when they toured here in Japan (usually Dave Mustaine, the lead singer, does the interviews).

After he quit Megadeth, he and his wife moved to Tokyo (now, like me, he’s an American KISS fan living in Tokyo with his Japanese wife 😉 ).

Now that he lives in Japan, he makes a living by occasionally co-hosting music shows on TV, writing for music magazines, playing in a variety of Japanese bands, and he has released albums of remakes of Japanese songs.

Most recently, he has recorded TV commercial for the Fanta soft drink with three Japanese musicians and Akenono, the former 横綱 (Sumo Grand Champion).

In these commercials, Marty Friedman and the others (who are all famous in Japan…actually, Marty Friedman is the least famous of the five in Japan) are in a “FANTA” rock band.

Since they are all musicians in real life except Akebono (the former sumo champion)…in the commercials, Akebono plays the drums but always messes up.

The reason that these five celebrities were chosen for the “FANTA band” is that the first initial of each member’s name spells F.A.N.T.A.
They are: Marty Friedman (guitar), Ayanocozey (sometimes called “DJ OZMA”) (bass), Nana Tanimura (vocals), Takamizawa (aka: Takamiy (of the Japanese band “The Alfee“)) (guitar), and Akebono (drums (and “bodyguard” 🙂 )).

These commercials are to promote the new Fanta drink in Japan…”Moo Moo White“.
(Click here to read the post I wrote about this drink.)

Here a video of the TV commercial that Fanta released (it doesn’t show who the band members are…in an attempt to build up anticipation):

And here’s the latest one (Akebono, the sumo wrester / drummer drops his drum sticks):

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Also, in Japan, yesterday was the holiday “White Day“.

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