A legend in the world of Japanese shochu, and a breath of fresh air in advertising
Anyone in the advertising copywriting industry knows that the market changes in the blink of an eye, and advertising strategies change along with it. Yet Japan's iichiko shochu has, from 1984 to the present day, held fast to its own literary and artistic path for thirty years without fail, producing over a hundred posters and several hundred advertising slogans, with a style that has barely changed at all, making it a breath of fresh air in the advertising world.
Most of the posters feature landscape photographs, produced personally by Hideya Kawakita, a professor at Tokyo University of the Arts. At first, because the advertising budget was tight, the print ads could only be placed in the subway, but over the years this instead became the unique style of iichiko shochu. Like a wall calendar, it quietly accompanied passersby, and each time a page turned, it heralded the arrival of a new season.
1984.04
Where can you drink iichiko?
1986.05
Mix a little wind into the shochu.
1987.01
A pot of wine among the flowers - Li Bai
1989.03
No map, but there is time
1990.01
The flower calendar repeats
1991.10
Lamplit hours, friends, laughter and talk
1992.11
Leading to a room with old books.
1993.08
A day like a nostalgic film.
1994.09
Grass withers, and it also sprouts.
1995.03
Today I meet the spring breeze.
1996.10
What goes first is the wind.
1997.10
Meditations in the forest.
1998.10
A train with no passengers comes along.
1999.09
Under the stars, upon the sand.
2000.08
Sand and dust and idle fancies.
2001.04
On a land a hundred million years old.
2002.06
Some summer's place of belonging.
2003.09
Of an autumn day.
2004.01
A scene of clear sky.
2005.08
Quietly watching the tracks of summer.
2006.10
The sky is vast, and so are heaven and earth.
2007.04
Let's talk slowly, just like before.
2008.08
The sea on a solo journey.
2009.12
Sunlight coming from who knows where.
2010.07
Small as I am, I stand upon the sea.
2011.01
This is a flower that bloomed after the sunlight fell on it.
2012.02
Take a little stroll by the lakeside.
2013.03
In front of the flowers, I seem far too hurried.
2013.10
Oh, we meet again.
2014.04
Late spring, still and calm.
2015.01
On a day of spring haze.
2015.02
Waiting for spring all alone.
2015.05
This kind of thing happens too, you know.
2016.08
Before I knew it, suddenly it was summer.
2017.06
I got a mango.
2017.07
That was a summer day.
2017.12
Winter light.
Image: iichiko
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