Streetball

Just a slight mix up there by leaving out an extra 0 there. The commercial can be viewed via Windows Media Player or Real Player from the MasterCard TV Commercials link, the "Home" commercial.

Something about the set of the Japan street segment just didn't seem right. It appears to be in Japan, but that's not the normal street environment that I've seen around Japan. Maybe it was filmed in Okinawa?

Yes, a new car would be 150 to 300-man (3,000,000) yen, so they're off by a digit. But was the car new or used? A 10 year old mini-truck might run about 30-man.

A hard ball is also extreamly unlikely, as was pointed out. But more than that, I can't imagine a bunch of kids playing streetball in Japan. Were they on a residential street with the car? The factory's parking lot (on a weekend) sounds more reasonable. The main problem with streetball in Japan is that streets tend to be narrow and buildings (especially in rural areas) tend to be built very close to the road (often without sidewalks). But that just describes the areas in Japan I'm familiar with - maybe streetball is possible out in the countryside (although the close proximity to a factory becomes an anomaly).

Out of curiosity, was the car parked facing so that it was driven on the left side or the right side of the street? What kinds of street signs were visible? Was there a sidewalk? Was there a concrete brick wall around the factory with a gate? While one may think of such a scene as being generic the world over, there are lots of little things that can be picked out to tell if it's a Hollywood imitation or not. But without seeing it, I can't really add anything more.

In all my years here, I've never see kids play baseball on the street. They just don't do it. Especially in crowded alleys in shopping precincts bustling with people and lined with cars on both sides. (It was a one-way street, Westbaystars-san, so the cars were all facing the same direction).

I don't have the commercial in front of me right now, but isn't there a sign on a building in the background which reads "America" in katakana? For some reason, that stuck with me. I don't know what that would indicate.

- Stevie

Yes, that was one.

The black one to the left of that reads, "__ kara no ima no tokoro houhou" (I can't make out the first character). The ending is "law of the current place," but I have no idea how to fit anything on the beginning to make sense.

There's also a giant banner in the background advertising that the department store (I assume) is on holiday. It looks like they forgot the "mu" for "mukyujitsu" or "no holidays" that is common for department stores to put on big banners.

This is a very strange street to say the least.

Now that I've seen the comercial on the Web (thanks for the link), I can say:

• The street could very well be in Japan - but not conclusively.
• The cars appear to have Japanese license plates, but kei-sha (sub-compacts) usually have yellow colored plates - black if they're for business use. I have seen exceptions, so that's not an absolute rule.
• The signs on the buildings make no sense at all. They're all obvious facades.

Third base looks like a Honda Today, a line that was discontinued in the mid-1990s. I imagine that it is possible to get one second hand for around 300,000 yen, which is what the announcer said, as there's very little market for cars that old. But that's a beautifully kept 9 year old car (if that's what it is).

Still, the odds of kids playing baseball on such a street are pretty much zero. There may be some trouble with inner-city youth, but that's too irresponsible for even for the worst of them.

Never seen kids playing an actual game in the street (although I have seen kids play catch on a nearly empty station platform).

Also I have seen cars for sale near Amagasaki for as low as san-man en (30,000). They look like hunks of junk, but definitely a bargain for three hundred bucks (I'll stick to riding my mama-chari).

I am not sure about the location of filming. The street itself doesn't offer much clues, but those signs are as phony as three yen bills. It could be Japan and maybe they just couldn't show real deal billboards and neon in the background: Makudo, UFJ, Nova, and all the other signs I see everywhere. I'd still bet it's NYC or something like that.

The real problem with the ad is that Mastercard has been running the same old "Priceless" campaign for far too long. Let's talk baseball and leave the CMs to other forums.

It's a commercial people! Let it go.

Let's worry about more important things like how we can get tickets to the Nippon Series.

-Third base looks like a Honda Today, a line that was discontinued in the mid-1990s.

I've seen that commercial a few times here on TV, but couldn't get the online version to work (I have an oooooold PC).

I thought the car in that commercial looked like a Renault Twingo, which I think was only sold in Europe. Here's a picture. Maybe I'm totally wrong, but at least I get to post a pic of a Renault on this board.

The other thing is that the street in that commercial was more of a dark alley. I'm having a hard time thinking of a place in Japan where buildings tall enough to produce those shadows would be spaced to have that kind of an effect. It looks more like San Francisco's Chinatown.

Also, I have seen kids playing ball in the street before, but only out in suburban/rural Nara in very low traffic areas.

Just watched the commercial again. That car has got to be a Twingo.

I was thinking New York Chinatown, but San Francisco would make sense.