Hello everyone!
If you were wondering what our last Japan trip was all about, the answer is in this post: Yep, we were invited by Glico to get to know their brand better, especially POCKY!
We're pretty sure you're familiar with Pocky since it's basically everywhere since we were kids, but in case you don't, it's a delicious Japanese biscuit brand that has a wide range of flavours, from chocolate to green tea to grape! (Please bring more flavours to Indonesia xD)
And one of the things that we found out during our trip was...
POCKY has its own day!!
November 11th
Why November 11th? Because 11-11 looks like four Pocky sticks standing in a line! ^^
What surprised us more was that SO many people celebrate it! It shows just how loved the brand is in Japan. To give you a glimpse of the celebration, we visited this prestigious university in Shinjuku called Waseda University. They decorated the convenience store inside the building to look like this:
Greeted by this big display full of Pocky at the entrance:
Actually Pocky has to share this day with his brother too, PRETZ, which is more to savoury flavour rather than sweet.
In addition to the vibrant decoration, they also lowered down the price so more people can celebrate Pocky Day and share the happiness!
♡〜٩( ˃́▿˂̀ )۶〜♡
Jeng jeng! They even prepared a simple PHOTO BOOTH in front of the store along with some props, like wigs, sunglasses, and... Pocky balloons!!
The Glico team told us that other universities which have convenience stores also celebrated Pocky Day just like Waseda, because so many students would buy Pocky on that day, hence more profit for the stores! ^^
Besides universities, big supermarkets (like Carrefour in Indonesia) also joined the hype by having a special corner for Pocky:
(Sorry for the photo quality! It's from our Snapchat ^^)
Ok finally! The peak of the celebration!
Oh wait, maybe we should introduce these guys first:
Pocky has always been collaborating with popular celebrities and this time is this trio from the famous Japanese supergroup, EXILE TRIBE: Naoki Kobayashi, Takanori Iwata and Hiroomi Tosaka.
Not only they modeled for Pocky, they also created this super catchy song and dance:
↑ Love how the audience dance enthusiastically along with them! ↑
And, aaand, for the peak celebration of Pocky Day, Glico held a
DANCE CONTEST!
We just have to copy the dance or modify it in our own creative ways and then submit it to Glico website.
Here's a screenshot of some of the contestants! More than 1,000 joined omg!!
If we haven't mentioned it before, Japanese people LOVE to celebrate—from Halloween to traditional festivals! And that's one of the things we love about them! It is commonly said that you will always find a festival somewhere in Japan.
So, in order to show our love for Japan and Pocky, we decided to make a video compilation of our (awkward) Pocky/Sharehappi dance at various places in Tokyo and Osaka that we visited:
Haha please don't judge us.
Hope you enjoyed this bit of information on Pocky, Japanese culture, and our latest trip to Japan :)
See you guys on our next post!