One of the things I love most about the Japanese culture is their beautiful tradition of celebrating change – in this case the transition from one season to the next. Its still mind numbing cold here in Tokyo, but temperatures are slowly rising with the coming of Spring.
In Japan Spring is synonymous with the blooming of the Sakura flowers, symbolizing a brand new start and the coming of better things. This is especially so for students as April is the start of the new academic term and they have to sit for graduation examinations. With that in mind Nestle Kit Kat, together with Japan Post have launched the “キットメール” Kit Mail, a special postcard pack with Kit Kat chocolates. The catchphrase for the campaign is “キットサクラサクよ”, a play of words on Kit Kat and Sakura flowers blooming that carry a motivational message.
The “キットメール” pack contains 2 post cards, a 140 yen stamp for mailing and of course Kit Kat chocolates (4 sticks). Family members and friends can write a message of support on the box and then mail it with the attached stamp.
(below) The television commercial for Kit Mail starring the lovely Kitano Kii.
In the commercial Grandpa buys a Kit Mail and sends it to Kitano-chan, with the message “がんばれ!” (work hard !/hang in there ! ) Very heart-warming, very nicely shot and definitely very Japanese.
Go to the official Kit Kat page here for more videos.
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Spring, pretty pink.
Spring in Tokyo, and pretty Cherry Blossoms.
Billboard Love, Spring, Tokyo 2013.
Spring, pretty pink prelude
Spring, Musashiseki Park, Tokyo.
January 26th, 2009 at 1:20 am
that’s nice!!
January 26th, 2009 at 1:53 am
That’s cute…
From a french postman…
January 27th, 2009 at 8:26 pm
are you sending it to someone? ^^
I wonder if it tastes like sakura lols!
January 28th, 2009 at 12:58 am
kunrong/kahneda – Are you folks referring to the commercial, or the girl ? :p
andra – Haha, nope. There’s actually a Sakura flavored Kit Kat a while back, I can’t remember what it tastes like though…
January 28th, 2009 at 11:48 am
i think they mean the commercial, but you cant blame them either way.
January 31st, 2009 at 10:40 pm
My wife was teaching me the deeper meaning of the Sakura KitKat:
As shown in the TVC that Vong posted, the Sakura KitKat was designed for students going for their entrance exams.
In the past, when there were no telephones in Japan, a popular way of notifying their parents of the result of their exams was by telegrams.
When they qualify for the school that they were applying for, instead of “ゴウカクシマシタ”(I’ve qualified). They would write “サクラサク”(Sakura blossoms).
When they fail, it would be “サクラチル”(Sakura withers).
Fun fact: Telegrams are only transmitted in katakana. 😀
February 1st, 2009 at 7:42 pm
GGear0323 – Haha, quite right.
Jason – Thank you so much for the enlightening post ! Perhaps the reason why telegrams are only in katakana because its simpler to code ?
February 8th, 2009 at 12:31 am
I had a Muscat of Alexandria flavoured Kit Kat when I was in Tokyo in November. It was….strange. Can’t say I enjoyed it much. The chocolate was green though – looked great!
April 1st, 2009 at 11:32 pm
What a sweet video.
I like the way the “Have a break, Have a Kit-Kat”
is ‘almost’ in English at the end.
Kit-Kat do go in for the unusual flavours here.
I must try and find this one.