What are you doing on a subway ad?!

Spotted and snapped by Shaun, lower right

My friend Shaun asked a few weeks ago if I had a few minutes to get a picture taken. The design firm doing the ad didn't need a portfolio or a head shot; they needed "a white woman," available in the next two hours. And that is how I went from writing about ads and posters plastered on Tokyo's trains to becoming one.

I walked over to the location, a design firm with three computers lined up against the wall in a skinny room. A photographer was shooting the bearded guy (top center) seated next to the windows with a white backdrop. An assistant gave me a cup of tea and showed me a coffee-table art book open to the photos they were using as inspiration. I was surprised that their plan was recreate a work by Jeff Wall, as close to identically as possible, minus the 70's hair. I couldn't think of a diplomatic way to ask if copying it was kosher, especially since it obviously was to them. The bearded guy finished and left, and I sat down on a metal stool placed by the window, looking out at Aoyama. They weren't interested at all in my hair or makeup or jawline. The photographer took a few snaps of me gazing at three different spots he pointed at on the window frame. The instruction was to try to be expressionless, which of course made my lips feel a little twitchy. (I imagine the lack of twitching is an important advantage of professional models.) I'm not sure why they didn't hire professionals, if it was about budget and timing or if they wanted to remain true to the original spirit of Young Workers.

The ad is for a "business and opinion" magazine put out by JR - hence, the posters in the trains. The photo isn't in the magazine, though they said it would run in the Nikkei newspaper. It's been up a few days, but everyone I know seems to have stumbled on it at once in the last 24 hours on just about every train line in the city. I've come face-to-face with it only once so far: It was scotch-taped to the wall of the newspaper kiosk on the platform at my stop. The stand was shuttered and nobody was around - I almost peeled it off and took it home. But up close, I flinched at the way I looked in the picture and didn't want it. Dove ads be damned, I don't think a little Photoshop would have hurt anyone. So how do I feel about my picture flapping in the breeze, hurtling through Tokyo above and below ground? A little self-conscious, but mostly very amused. I should have taken taht one when I had the chance. If one happens to fall into anyone's hands, grab it for me?

UPDATE: We swiped one that was still up in a station after the campaign ended. What the heck am I supposed to do with it?

The new color of manners

Old message, new poster

We had "Do it at home," "Do it again," and, last year, the best slogan ever: "!?" (I'm pretending the long, dark year of soft-focus wittle baby animals never happened.) Now we have one of those examples of Japanese, common in slogans, that's so simple it's near impossible to translate: "Manner is heart." Manners are thoughtfulness? Hrm. The big heart frame and little heart that the man is leaving behind as he rushes mannerlessly between the closing doors suggests they were feeling literal with "heart" for "kokoro." This is how iffy words like "heartfully" start to sound right after a while. And then there's the katakana "smart" below. "As you start your new life*, give yourself extra time and go smart!" Again, not too satisfying. Especially because "smart" usually means, confusingly, to be slim. The scoldy part is straightforward: "Jumping on the train at the last minute is dangerous. It causes train delays."
This poster is alright overall, has kind of a benign retro-American feel**. Will these two be recurring characters? Will breaking the manners code always result in leaving a little heart behind? Will the color change every month, or is pink the new yellow? Stay tuned til next month!



*The "new life" thing is because people are graduating and starting new jobs.
**Someone who knows things could probably get more specific about the stylistic reference. Weigh on in if that's you!