Talk about bad timing: on March 12 JR Kyushu opened a Shinkansen line between Hakata and Kumamoto, finally completing bullet train service for most of the length of Kyushu. Yes, that was just one day after the massive earthquake and tsunami hit the northern part of the country. Kyushu is far from the disaster zone, and suffered no damage, but no one in the country was in a mood to celebrate anything. Out of respect, the company pulled the wonderfully upbeat TV commercial it made to celebrate the opening, shot from the train as 15,000 people lined up along the tracks to wave and cheer. Happily, the commercial is now back on the air and a hit on YouTube too. Do watch it for yourself– I guarantee it will make you smile. See if you can spot the Power Rangers.
The catchy tune is by the Swedish-Japanese artist Maia Hirasawa . The song is available on a mini album sold on Amazon Japan: : Boom!（ブーン!）
Alice Gordenker アリス・ゴーデンカー 