Misaki Ito is Poor and Dirty

And possibly a Native American?

I was a bit confused the first time I saw this poster. Just what is going on here? The caption reads (and I have to guess, because the verb is omitted as is often the case with poster exhortations): [give] freedom to your wallet. As you may notice from the corner graphic, it turns out this is a lottery ad.

You may remember Misaki Ito from the TV version of the Densha Otoko saga. Since that came out, I've spotted her in a few dramas, but most often I see her in commercials. I saw her selling vacuums in an infomercial one day and asked my gf why she was selling out. But selling out is not really a concept that is understood in Japan. You get famous so you can be in commercials, not graduate from them. A lot of it stems from the fact that stars just aren't payed as much over here. Plus, you have to keep your face out there, or this country will forget about you fast.

So the following CM is also from the Loto 6 campaign. Look at all the poor disenfranchised people being saved by the lottery. They trust that the lottery won't make them yet poorer. Good old lottery.



So she's actually French. The thing in the right of the ad at the end is a loto ticket booth, which appear in abundance in Japan. I've never played though, so I don't know why pencils are so important.

Here's one more image from the campaign that I lucked out in finding: