In America, it used to be AT&T that made the nostalgic TV commercials that would bring a tear to your eye. In Japan, a Yokohama train line is pulling on that thread.
The Sotetsu line was the train I took to my Japanese grandmother’s house in Wadamachi from its terminus in Yokohama. It was the first train I took by myself when visiting Japan when I was 12.
Their television commercials have gone viral for their nostalgia. 100 Years Train shows various couples missing each through the years before finally getting together at the end. This commercial was made to celebrate the train line’s 100 year anniversary.
Here’s Dentsu’s write up on the thinking behind the campaign.
Last month, Sotetsu updated this theme to celebrate the line’s extension to Tokyo. Father & Daughter follows a father and daughter over the years as the father takes his daughter to school. In the beginning, the daughter looks up to her dad and says that it’s so far away. In the end, the daughter stays on the train to go away to university, presumably in Tokyo, which she tells her father is not that far away.
More background on the story here.
Be sure to watch the “behind the scenes” video below which is really quite amazing. Instead of using CGI, the entire commercial was shot in one go with identical-looking actors and hand dollys to simulate the movement of the train.
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