New JCB commercial featuring Kazunari Ninomiya and Haruna Kawaguchi begins airing! Behind-the-scenes and interview footage also released

■ “Kawaguchi-san is extremely busy, so when I met him on set, I felt relieved to know that he actually exists as a real person! (laughs)” (Ninomiya Kazunari)

JCB’s first new commercial in a year, “From now on, with JCB,” (30 seconds/15 seconds), starring Ninomiya Kazunari and Kawaguchi Haruna, will begin airing nationwide from July 17th.

The “JCB Will Continue to be Yours” version expresses the safety, security, and reliability that are backed by JCB’s history and track record of expanding cashless payments for over 60 years. Ninomiya walks powerfully forward in a pure white space. He holds up his JCB card and says, “I realized it was always by my side.”

“JCB is the only international card brand born in Japan,” said Kawaguchi, holding a smartphone with a JCB card set up, as he walked forward. The two, who used JCB’s touch payment, said with a sincere look in their eyes, “Yes, we have been trying to expand cashless payments for a long time,” and “We want to bring convenience and safety to you too,” and as they headed for the next destination, saying, “Now, let’s take another step forward,” a large passenger plane took off for its next destination.

[Filming episode]
First, Ninomiya and Kawaguchi filmed their parts, and then they filmed their parts together. The new CM unfolds in a pure white world, with the new catchphrase “Together with this peace of mind.” Upon entering the studio and seeing the completely white set, Ninomiya exclaimed in surprise, “Wow, it’s amazing,” while Kawaguchi commented, “It has a feeling of cleanliness,” and they seemed to be approaching the filming of their first brand CM in about a year with renewed spirit.

When the two of them met, they showed such good chemistry that they both said, “I didn’t realize it had been a year since we last filmed.” The filming went smoothly, and at the end, when they got the scene where they said in unison, “From now on, JCB,” the director called out, “Cut! OK!” and the studio erupted in loud applause.

■Interview with Kazunari Ninomiya and Haruna Kawaguchi
Q. How do you feel after finishing filming the brand’s new commercial, the first in about a year?
Kawaguchi:I didn’t realize it had been a year since filming.
Ninomiya:I didn’t think so, that’s true. I was relieved to be able to shoot together with the two of them again. I was happy. (In the previous CM series, we had character settings as editor-in-chief and reporter), but (in the new CM) we were able to shoot with a “normal” relationship, and I think it became a valuable CM for us.
Kawaguchi:It was very new to me because I was in a white set, wearing a pure white outfit, and I was conveying my message in a straightforward way. It was a fresh feeling that had never been seen in any JCB commercial before.
Q. You two have been working together in JCB’s brand commercials for three full years. Is there anything about each other that you particularly trust and feel comfortable with?
Ninomiya:Just having Kawaguchi-san come to the set makes me feel at ease. Kawaguchi-san is extremely busy… I see him on TV in various places, and he works so much that I wonder if he’s really alone, so when I meet him on set, I feel at ease knowing that he really does exist! (laughs)
Kawaguchi:Ninomiya-san has been doing JCB’s (CM) for many years, and I’ve been participating since the middle of the project, but he’s a senior, and I have a vague, unshakable sense of trust that if anything happens, it’ll be fine because Ninomiya-san is there. I’m not very good at talking freely in interviews like this, but when Ninomiya-san is there, he talks to me…
Ninomiya:You don’t like it!?
Kawaguchi:I’m not good at it! I’m very shy… But (Ninomiya-san) always naturally leads me so I feel at ease. Even in our relationship in the commercial, (Ninomiya-san) is a “reliable senior”, so I always trust him.
Q: Is there anything that makes you feel safe or eases your anxiety when you wear it?
Kawaguchi:For me, it’s not so much the “things” I wear, but rather the “scents.” When I go to a new place, I take incense or my favorite scent with me. It makes me feel at ease, and helps me to become more level-headed.
Ninomiya:Speaking of things that ease my anxiety and make me feel at ease, when I’m working on a drama or movie, there comes a time when I stop looking at the script and I feel at ease. After studying all the time and looking at the script, I get surprisingly nervous and think, “What should I do?”, but when the time comes when I suddenly stop looking at the script, I feel a sense of relief (about myself), like I’m properly immersed in the world of the drama or movie.
Q. JCB has been working to expand cashless payments for over 60 years, but is there anything that you two have done for many years?
Ninomiya:It’s not that I’m doing it on purpose, but I think I try to spend each day in a different way. I sometimes unconsciously lose track of time, forgetting what day it is, what date it is, etc., so I think I’ve been trying to spend each day as differently as possible, making it different, for many years to avoid that. My routine is to try not to have a routine.
Kawaguchi:I don’t have a routine either… I feel like I’d feel bad if I couldn’t do it, and I don’t have any particular preferences or things that I absolutely have to do, so I think it’s fine that I’ve been able to do it that way. I don’t think there’s anything that I’ve been doing forever for the time being.
Ninomiya:From now on, I want to make Hawaii (a commercial shoot) a routine once a year. I’ve been saying this for three years. After all, when you think of JCB, you think of Hawaii. You can’t leave it out! And between JCB and Hawaii, there are Ninomiya and Kawaguchi!
Kawaguchi:I’m always there! I want to go (to Hawaii). I want to make it a routine (laughs).

■A special JCB brand commercial movie has been released, featuring Ninomiya and Kawaguchi’s “JCB” lines
The behind-the-scenes and interview footage was also released on the same day on the JCB official YouTube channel. In addition, a special movie was released on July 5th that compiles a number of “JCB” (lines by Ninomiya and Kawaguchi) carefully selected from about 40 commercials produced since 2010, and has already been viewed more than 1 million times.

Furthermore, from July 22nd to July 28th, outdoor advertisements will be put up around Shibuya Station, as well as at other stations in Tokyo and Osaka Station. Be sure to check them out.

[Outdoor advertising overview]
Display location
・Near Shibuya Station
・All Tokyo Metro stations (Ginza, Nihonbashi, Ueno, Tameike-sanno, Shinjuku, Ikebukuro, Roppongi, Ebisu, Akihabara, Iidabashi, Meiji-jingumae (Harajuku), Toyosu, Yurakucho, Takadanobaba, Kita-senju, Toranomon Hills)
・JR West Osaka Station Midosuji Exit ticket gate outside concourse
Display period: 07/22 (Mon) – 07/28 (Sun) (tentative)