A Japanese public company started a TV commercial on the 18th with the theme ‘mother in love with Korea’. It is unusual for a Japanese public company that has nothing to do with Korea to send out a TV commercial with a Korean Wave theme. It is interpreted as reflecting Japanese public opinion that has changed favorably towards Korea by starting TV commercials immediately after President Yoon Seok-yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida had a summit. Tokyo Gas is Japan’s largest public city gas company, with 60,000 km of gas pipelines in six prefectures in the Kanto region, including Tokyo.
In the first scene of the CF, a Japanese woman watching TV appears with the line “I fell in love, with a man 30 years younger.” A taxi driver, he fell in love with Hwanwoong from the Korean idol group ‘Oneus’. He is learning Korean and walks around Shin-Okubo, asking Korean customers in taxis, “Can I help you?” Her deserted room is full of ‘Oneus’ goods. A distraught mother won the lottery to attend a concert in Seoul that she had been looking forward to, but couldn’t get on the plane to Korea due to a high fever. To the mother who fainted and said, “It’s all over,” her teenage daughter said, “What are you talking about? From now on oshikatsu (推し活) mother (to Korea), cheering someone from behind,” said the story of making Samgyetang. There are scenes of making food with city gas three or four times in the CF.
Actress Ando Damae ((安藤玉恵), who appeared in the commercial, said, “There is a scene where I speak Korean in a CF, but the pronunciation of ‘u’ is so difficult, so I practiced a lot.” she began studying Korean recently.” Mr. Ando said, ”I want to go to Korea and eat delicious soup within this year.” He attended the K-Book Festival held in Tokyo by the Korea Foundation last November. In a press release , City Gas said, “We tried to show the image of a company that supports ordinary people by showing how people enrich their lives while focusing their passion on what they love.”
