Being the major transportation form in Tokyo, about 70% of all travel, trains are also the perfect venue for advertising. There are ads around the inside of the car just below the roof; banners hang from the ceiling at intervals the length of the car; and JR East carriages have video ads above the doors (with all the dialogue in subtitles).

But this train was special. All the ads are for iPods, all the poster, all the video, and it even had some on the outside. And not just this car, but every car of the train.

I wonder how much it costs to have a train devoted solely to your advertising? And is it worth it?

I have only seen a couple of devoted trains in my stay. But I can see when they might be effective: you have 5 to 30 minutes of a lot of people’s time, with only your ads to look at (aside from their keitai or PSP).

At night most of the local Summit closes, the food section stays open. Summit is like a Kmart, a supermarket and a 2 dollar shop combined into one store.

Since most of the shop has closed they close and lock all but one set of the entrance doors. Putting a sign behind the one not open, so you don’t try to use them.

The night this photo was taken they put the sign advertising their Sharp コピー (copy) centre sign out.

It was too good an opportunity not to take a photo.

The interesting thing about this shot is the advertisement for boxer briefs in multiple colours and patterns. In Tokyo you see more adverts for fancy men’s underwear (than in Australia).

While there are still ads for women’s underwear, there more a balance. The social structure allows men to be more concerned about their appearance, without people queerying their sexuality.

And the man on the ad reminds me of Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen from Changing rooms.

It was very cold. But the crowd was friendly and well behaved. No drunken behaviour. Little to no pushing or shoving (until just inside the temple). A different evening to one you might encounter in Sydney, Australia.

While we didn’t get to see any fireworks (they aren’t a feature of Japanese new years celebrations), there was a lively atmosphere. And lots of interesting food to try once you left the temple.

While this may seem like overkill, here in Tokyo I have seen a whole train covered in advertisements for one product. All the ads on the walls and hanging from the ceiling conveyed the same message. And the same video ads in the train playing over and over again.

It seems that advertising campaigns here in Tokyo can be overwhelming, but short in duration, and then disappear like the last season.

For those interested, the ads say “Nano 色いろ” (iroiro). The Kanji means ‘colour’, and is pronounced ‘iro’. The Hiragana that follows is also pronounced the same. The pun being that, いろいろ, pronounced  ‘iroiro’, means ‘various’.

Well that statement is about right. We asked at one fishing shop, Sansui Shibuya, and they sent us to another one of their stores a few blocks away. Seems they have one store for each type of fishing.

This photo shows a wall of bass lures on one she of the store. The other side has this much bass fishing paraphernalia again. Not to mention the stuff on the wall behind me, and down the stairs to the first floor.

So, if fishing is you cup of tea, have a look for equipment while in Japan. Your sure to reel in more than you expected.

Just a few days before Christmas we can see that the season is already changing. Van Houten Cocoa, a chocolate milk, is changing from its ‘Christmas’ branded packaging back to the normal variety. And a new line of Strawberry cocoa milk is available.

It is interesting to observe how often advertising and packaging here in Tokyo changes. This brand, for instance, has changed its packaging 3 or 4 times since we got here in April. There seems to be a need to keep changing, and offering something new, to stay competitive here.