I’m impressed with the number of people here with above average knowledge of Japan.

The commercials have been a hit with the ladies, which makes the guys take notice and consider enlisting. The JSDF has simply followed suit with the advertisers of sports and sporting events.

They focus the content on young women who the men will try to please or impress by inviting and treating them to boat races (kyotei), bicycle races (keirin), horse racing (keiba), soccer, baseball, etc…

And it HASN’T been received well by the rank and file troops in the JSDF, as they view it as just as ‘gay’ as we do.

Exit question: Um, just who is this ad aimed at?

What’s Japanese for “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”?

The second ad is goofier, yet cooler.

I mean … it’s a Navy. Aren’t all sailors kind of like this?

Oh, yeah. I said it. Get back to driving the Marines to where they gotta go, swabbies. Don’t you have some paint to chip or some clothes to fold?

P.S. Dug that little karate kata move they stuck in the middle of the prancing. Crafty little guys.

(whistles) … In the Navy, you can set your mind at ease …

Bottom line, though, is that “Disco Navy” and all, I’m glad they’re our friends and not our enemies.

Oh, I’m sure that, just like in the U.S., it was politicians getting involved and screwing things up for the military…

Doghouse on April 13, 2007 at 11:50 AM

True but it did mention that actors were used in the navy clip. Still flabbergasted the Japanese military went along with the promos.

I found it amusing that that “report” reads more like an op-ed mocking the Japanese military (”pseudo-Navy” and “wannabe Army”). It’s not surprising, though, considering the decidedly leftist slant of the Mainichi Shinbun. The Asahi Shinbun is even worse.

The military uses different flags. The JMSDF (navy) uses the rising sun flag that was used by the Japanese navy in WWII, while the other branches use one that is similar (with the dot and stripes) but a different overall shape. Aircraft are marked with the big red dot, though.

>The lettering on the hats didn’t make sense either – Japanese characters are normally used two at a time with cursive (called hiragana) characters in between.

That’s only with actual sentences, where hiragana is used to conjugate, or as particles, etc. Nouns are usually just one or a string of kanji (Chinese characters) that could be in pairs, could be a set of three, or any number really. The lettering on the hats reads “kaijou jieitai” which means, “maritime self defense force.” You can see the same string of characters on the JMSDF website (http://www.mod.go.jp/msdf/) next to the image of the flag, under the English title. (Assuming your browser displays Japanese characters.)

So that there is no more doubt as to the authenticity of the commercial, you can go to http://jda.webcustom.net/cm/index.html and click on the links that say “(HIGH 300k)” to see the video. The one posted here is the third one. The top one (the most recent one) is also goofy, like a Power Rangers version. The second one is far more dignified, and not “festive” at all.

Lehuster on April 13, 2007 at 11:21 AM

Thanks for the input. I still have a hard time believing they approved it but did find the following from the Mainichi Shinbun which seems to back it up:

The JMSDF has used the sunburst flag since 1954.

Aylios on April 13, 2007 at 7:49 AM
Village people meets Power Rangers.

Hahahaha!

Lmao. Another of our allies. Sigh.

haha … ha … ha … heh … er … gulp.

Omg…. North Korea is gonna get it, fella!

The Japanese government goes to great lengths to project an image of pacifism to the general public (domestic and foreign), while at the same time building up a military that lacks practical experience, but has a lot of training, and a lot of really, really cool “toys.”
Doghouse on April 13, 2007 at 1:08 AM

Ditto that, Doghouse. It’s never been a good idea to underestimate the Japanese.

The lettering on the hats didn’t make sense either – Japanese characters are normally used two at a time with cursive (called hiragana) characters in between.

I wouldn’t laugh to hard. Japan’s military spending is greater than that of China. They have the best navy in Asia. The current issue of Monocle has a good article on the Japanese fleet.

Theworldisnotenough on April 13, 2007 at 12:53 AM

I’m tellin’ ya. Giant robots.

- The Cat

I think that it’s actually aimed at the civilian population, to get them to think that Japan doesn’t really have a military, or at least the kind that is trained to kill people and break things. (I frequently have Japanese students who tell me that Japan doesn’t have a military, but just a “self defense force.” The self defense force is, of course, the military.) I checked the JSDF website, and the commercials appear to have been produced for broadcast on giant-screen TVs on the sides of buildings and other public places.

The Japanese government goes to great lengths to project an image of pacifism to the general public (domestic and foreign), while at the same time building up a military that lacks practical experience, but has a lot of training, and a lot of really, really cool “toys.”

Another important element is that “cuteness” is an extremely important part of the modern Japanese aesthetic, that isn’t limited to girls. In the U.S. we just look at it as being “gay,” but in Japan it doesn’t have quite that stigma. Still, the commercials are pretty “festive.”

I’ll have to ask, but I’m pretty sure my Japanese Self Defense Force friends aren’t too happy with the commercials. They’re anything but festive, prancing nancy-boys.