entertainment

Kei Nishikori trades racket for a sword in Nissin ad

8 Comments
By RocketNews24

Last year, Nissin, makers of Cup Noodle instant ramen, created the awesome Samurai in Brazil ad, in which a soccer player clad in Japanese armor travelled to South America to show off his footwork to the locals. The company later caught up with the freestyle soccer expert in Europe with a sequel, Samurai in Manchester.

In its newest commercial, Nissin isn’t just switching venues, but sports, too, as Samurai in New York features one of the best tennis players in the world, who proves just how talented he is by leaving behind his racket and delivering powerful forehands, backhands, and serves using a wooden sword.

The minute-long ad opens with a skiff floating under overcast skies, being plied up New York City’s Hudson River.

The oarsman’s face is hidden by the wide brim of his hat, but the camera does get a clear shot of his passenger: professional tennis player Kei Nishikori, currently ranked number five in the world, dressed in samurai garb with a headband wrapped around his forehead. While still on the river, Nishikori picks up a spare oar and starts whittling with his knife, mirroring the actions of historical swordsman Miyamoto Musashi, who’s said to have carved a wooden sword on his way to Ganryujima Island for his fateful duel with rival Sasaki Kojiro.

But wait a second! Nishikori is an athlete, not a warrior. You can’t hit tennis balls with a sword, can you?

Think again.

Right up until the moment of filming, the commercial’s producers say they weren’t sure if it could be done, but Nishikori stepped up and showed them that yes, it can.

Source: IT Media

Read more stories from RocketNews24. -- Japan’s prince of tennis gets his own Prince of Tennis manga portrait -- Is that a giant sword in your pocket or are you just happy to see me? -- Real-life Fruit Ninja! Watch Isao Machii slice up flying fruit like a boss

© Japan Today

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.


8 Comments
Login to comment

Haha, good one!

2 ( +2 / -0 )

and the opponent from America can return serve with a 12 gauge shot gun, game set match.

-8 ( +0 / -8 )

Cool commercial. I like the cms from Cup Noodle, the previous one about tatemae and honae was also great.

@wtfjapan: perhaps you are looking for this: https://vimeo.com/112974995

0 ( +0 / -0 )

yeah cool video, but actually just tired of the Samurai thing being played over and over again, the modern Japanese male is far removed from there Samurai ancestors. name me one thing that they are similar in. and please dont give the the Samurai spirit BS. if that was the case any Japanese sporting team would have slain all there opponents by now, or committed ritual suicide when defeated. LOL

-5 ( +0 / -5 )

Nice ! But can he play on boats in Sydney Harbor like Lleyton and Roger ?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Neat, but a little offensive.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

totally senseless but cute

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Too bad he's agreed to advertise a product (cup noodles) that has been proven to be extremely unhealthy. Wish he would show a little more class and concern in choosing what products to identify with.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Login to leave a comment

Facebook users

Use your Facebook account to login or register with JapanToday. By doing so, you will also receive an email inviting you to receive our news alerts.

Facebook Connect

Login with your JapanToday account

User registration

Articles, Offers & Useful Resources

A mix of what's trending on our other sites