Guess what the Merlion became when Softbank shot their commercial in Singapore...!!

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From the talk I had with an American lady in Bangkok, I wanted to find something humorous from Japan.

But honestly, it's difficult to find...

But here is one commercial I loved from Softbank a long time ago!

Video from ComeOnSoftBank

Filmed in Marina Bay Sands in Singapore

As many of you know many Japanese's dream is to stay at Marina Bay Sands Singapore. One big reason is we saw this commercial by SoftBank with SMAP on the rooftop pool.

Of course, another icon of Singapore is Merlion, which comes up in the last scene of the commercial.

But pause at 0:29 and look carefully. It's not a Merlion, it's a dog "Otosan" meaning "dad" in Japanese.

Video from ComeOnSoftBank

Otosan Dog made Softbank very popular in Japan

Softbank was an emerging mobile company trying to catch up to NTT docomo and KDDI, and one way they gained popularity was the "otosan" or the "father" dog commercial.

It was a strange family commercial where the Hokkaido dog is the dad, and the dad-looking Black man is actually the son, and it's a continuing series.

Video from チューブハンター

Softbank started a promotion for the customers that they can get the otosan dog dolls if you sign a phone contract with Softbank, and a lot of Japanese converted their contracts to Softbank!

When I saw the Merlion change into an Otosan dog, I remember being so amazed by the humor! :)

Follow me for more to come :) 

In this blog, I post my food trips worldwide, as insights into Japanese food in comparison to all the different cuisines I encounter through my trips.

I also share information from Japan that fills our hearts or might help us think about how to better the world!

Here are the SNS channels I have, but I mainly focus on Twitter at the moment. I share my past car trip around mainly Hokkaido, and how it was living there!






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