Weekly Oshikatsu News (April 11, 2025): Yebisu's 10M Yen Brew & Mizuho x Mrs. GREEN APPLE
Here is our weekly roundup of notable corporate oshikatsu (fan support activities) marketing and fan business news from April 4 to April 10, 2025.
This Week’s Highlights
This week, companies used physical venues, newspaper pages, and birthdays to create touchpoints with fans.
To mark the first anniversary of its brand experience hub “YEBISU BREWERY TOKYO” in Ebisu, Tokyo, Sapporo Breweries began accepting applications for a new service called “YEBISU 1TANK.” For 10 million yen (tax included), customers can develop a full tank of original beer (equivalent to about 1,500 glasses). Over the past year, visitor numbers at the hub exceeded 300,000. Sixty percent of those visitors were in their 20s and 30s, representing a new customer demographic. On March 18 and 19, Mizuho ran a two-day newspaper advertisement in the Yomiuri Shimbun connecting the feelings of Mrs. GREEN APPLE and their fans. Meanwhile, Yamasa Corporation timed Korean-inspired saengil (birthday) ads with actor Yo Oizumi’s birthday, displaying them across Tokyo, Osaka, and Hokkaido.
There was movement on the technology front as well. GMO Pepabo held casual recruiting interviews inside a VRChat space. Horiemon AI School and Nonomen Legend jointly opened the “Horiemon AI Character Agency,” which manages celebrities as AI talents. And Morinaga Milk Industry held an advance preview at a Tokyo trial event for the VR shooting game it will exhibit at its Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai booth.
- 10M yen
- Price (tax included) for one tank of original beer (~1,500 glasses) via YEBISU 1TANK
- 300,000+
- First-year visitors to YEBISU BREWERY TOKYO, with 60% in their 20s and 30s
- 94M
- Cumulative worldwide Tamagotchi units sold since the brand launched in 1996
- 30M yen
- Announced maximum for prizes and support at the Kochi Anime Creator Award 2025
Source: The Oshi Lab’s summary of the article
Movie Theaters and Theme Parks Built Repeat Fan Visits into Their Systems
KING OF PRISM Series — Drawing Fans Back Repeatedly with “Cheering Screenings”
“Cheering screenings” (ouen jouei)—a theater screening format where audience members can shout encouragement and wave penlights—spread starting in the 2010s. A signature feature of the KING OF PRISM series, considered one of the pioneers that sparked the trend, is “Prism ADR” (Purizumu Afureko), where the audience calls out in response to prompts shown in the subtitles. For the installment released on August 16, 2024, SCREENX and ULTRA 4DX screenings—the first ever in the history of Japanese anime—were also rolled out starting in October. The latest film, KING OF PRISM -Your Endless Call-, was scheduled to open on June 27, 2025 (AdverTimes. (in Japanese)).
Dedicated fans reportedly visit multiple movie theaters, with some watching the exact same film more than 100 times.
Lab Note: Because the audience changes with every screening, the experience changes too. This design is why fans travel to distant theaters again and again. Leaving room for fans not just to “watch” a work, but to “participate” in it, leads directly to repeat attendance.
Detective Conan x USJ — Two Original-Story Attractions That Surprised Even the Original Creator
Original creator Gosho Aoyama visited “Detective Conan World,” which was running at Universal Studios Japan. At the live mystery restaurant “Detective Conan Mystery Restaurant,” guests could deduce the culprit while enjoying French cuisine. An escape game tied to the latest theatrical film Detective Conan: One-Eyed Flashback (opening April 18), titled “Detective Conan: The Escape — Prologue of the Flashback,” was also prepared (Cho! Animedia (in Japanese)).
Aoyama also pulled off a surprise by leaving his autograph inside the facility and invited visitors to look for it.
Lab Note: Two weeks before the movie’s release, they invited the original creator himself to the experience facility. Rather than relying solely on advertisements to promote a new film, they can turn the creator’s reaction while visiting a permanent venue into news. This is a core strength of theme-park-based IP rollouts.
Food and Beverage Makers Engaged Fans Through Brand Experiences and Advertising
Sapporo Breweries — First Anniversary of the Yebisu Experience Hub and a 10-Million-Yen Beer Brewing Experience
To commemorate the first anniversary of the opening of “YEBISU BREWERY TOKYO” in Ebisu, Tokyo, Sapporo Breweries began accepting applications for its new “YEBISU 1TANK” service. Priced at 10 million yen (tax included), the service allowed customers to develop one full tank (approximately 1,500 glasses) of original Yebisu Beer. It was designed with corporate event use in mind and limited to a single purchasing group. Alongside this, the company also ran a collaborative project aging beer in wooden barrels from Dewar’s 12-Year-Old Scotch whisky. The hub is a brewing facility revived 35 years after the closure of the Ebisu factory in 1988. Since opening, it has welcomed more than 300,000 visitors, 60% of whom were younger guests in their 20s and 30s (AdverTimes. (in Japanese)).
Over the past year, 17 limited-edition original beers were released at the hub, three of which were commercialized as nationally distributed brands.
Lab Note: A high-ticket 10-million-yen service is designed less around the number of actual buyers and more to spark word-of-mouth amazement that such an option even exists. The fact that younger visitors make up the core attendance is also proof that the hub has cultivated a new fan base distinct from the brand’s usual buyers.
Yamasa Soy Sauce x Yo Oizumi — Celebrating a Birthday with Korean-Born “Saengil Ads”
Timed to the birthday of actor Yo Oizumi, who serves as its commercial spokesperson, Yamasa Corporation displayed “cheering ads” (ouen koukoku) across Tokyo, Osaka, and Hokkaido from March 31 to April 6. The campaign was part of the promotion for its product “Yamasa All-Purpose Cooking Sauce Yummy!” It drew inspiration from South Korea’s saengil (birthday) ad culture, where fans put up advertisements to celebrate the birthdays of idols and actors. Aya Nishitani of the company’s marketing department said they “wanted to express gratitude to Mr. Oizumi” (AdverTimes. (in Japanese)).
Yomiuri Advertising Inc., which handled production, stated that it emphasized the affinity between Korean culture and the product’s ability to let home cooks easily recreate Korean dishes.
Lab Note: What is fresh here is expressing gratitude to a talent the company has cast for nearly 10 years by borrowing the format of fan culture. When working with long-term contracted talent, celebrating everyday milestones alongside fans leaves a stronger impression than running an ad only when a contract ends.
Mizuho x Mrs. GREEN APPLE — A Newspaper Ad Completed Across Two Days
On March 18 and 19, Mizuho ran a collaborative advertisement with Mrs. GREEN APPLE in the Yomiuri Shimbun. With the copy “Blue Anniversary” on the 18th and “Blue Cheers” on the 19th, the full-page ads formed a single unified message when the two days’ pages were placed side by side. March 18 was the anniversary of the opening of “Phase 2,” when Mrs. GREEN APPLE resumed their musical activities. It was also a day when fans send messages using the hashtag “#TodokeMrsNi” (“#ReachMrs”). The advertisement was planned with a focus on this fan tradition (AdverTimes. (in Japanese)).
The commercial also featured the song “New My Normal,” which fit the campaign’s “Blue Challenge” image.
Lab Note: The company released its message to match an anniversary that fans already celebrate without fail every year. Newspapers reach a limited readership, but this is a prime example of how aligning with existing fan habits can turn a print ad into something people actively want to share with others.
Game IP Spilled Over into Hot Spring Facilities and Recruiting Events
Heaven Burns Red x Toshimaen “Niwa no Yu” — Four Weeks of Collab Baths and Merchandise
On April 3, Heaven Burns Red launched a collaboration with the hot spring spa facility “Toshimaen Niwa no Yu.” The event featured a collaborative jacuzzi called “31A no Yu” (“31A Bath”) tinted in the squad’s signature pink color, as well as relaxation services inspired by the characters. Collaborative menu items such as keema curry and pancakes, interior decorations throughout the venue, and merchandise sales were also prepared. The collaboration ran until April 30 (Inside (in Japanese)).
At the venue, regular older spa-goers soaked in the exact same baths as fans, allowing fans and other customer demographics to mingle naturally.
Lab Note: The thoroughness here goes beyond decorations and merchandise to incorporate the facility’s core services: baths and relaxation. When a layout allows existing regulars and visiting fans to share the same space comfortably, a venue can welcome new visitors without alienating its regular clientele.
GMO Pepabo x VRChat — Casual Recruiting Interviews in a Metaverse Space
In partnership with V Inc., GMO Pepabo conducted casual recruiting interviews using the VRChat world “NAGiSA.” Around 10 job seekers entered one by one for roughly 10-minute one-on-one conversations. The company had newly established a Metaverse Promotion Office in January 2025. Within VRChat, the Japanese-language world “Poppy Yokocho” (“Poppy Alley”) had been visited by more than 4 million people as of March 2025. “Virtual Market,” which began in 2018, has surpassed 1 million cumulative visitors. And the live event “META=KNOT,” held in 2024, recorded a peak attendance of over 3,000 people (Inside (in Japanese)).
The person in charge spoke positively of the results, noting that “because you can’t see each other’s faces, tension eases and the distance between people closes much faster.”
Lab Note: This takes the way metaverse spaces have been cultivated through live shows and handshake events and repurposes it directly for recruiting interviews. The fact that the venue design had already been proven at fan events helped smooth its adaptation to a completely new use case.
Tech Companies Built New Businesses with AI and XR
Produced by Takafumi Horie — “Horiemon AI Character Agency” Opens
Horiemon AI School and Nonomen Legend jointly opened an AI character agency called the “Horiemon AI Character Agency.” With entrepreneur Takafumi Horie serving as producer, the agency represents AI characters based on the appearances and personalities of well-known figures. Its first wave of talent included “Horienyan,” “Horiepen,” and “Yuruemon,” all modeled after Horie himself. The companies stated that collaborations are possible across a wide range of fields, including education, PR, events, merchandise, and fan engagement. User-participatory “AI Character Auditions” as well as tie-ups with corporations and local governments were also being planned (Mogura VR (in Japanese)).
A defining feature was the ability to carry out semi-automated activities while keeping the time and cost demands on the actual celebrity low.
Lab Note: Because an IP can be deployed without the talent having to work in person, merchandising and event appearances become much easier. For companies considering casting celebrities, this could provide a reason to rethink talent contract structures themselves.
Morinaga Milk Industry — VR Shooting Game at Its Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai Booth
At a trial event in Tokyo, Morinaga Milk Industry held an advance preview of the VR shooting game it will exhibit at its booth in the “Osaka Healthcare Pavilion” at Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai. The theme is “Superhuman with Bifidobacteria.” The centerpiece attraction, “VR Intestinal Quest” (VR Chounai Quest), is a roughly seven-minute VR shooting game in which players use their hands, voice, and brainwaves to battle bad bacteria while feeling the combat through physical vibrations. Planning and production were handled by 1→10, Inc. (One to Ten), and the brainwave device was handled by VIE, Inc. (Mogura VR (in Japanese)).
Attacks are triggered by shouting “Bifidobacteria!” (Bifizusukin!), making the fun of calling out loud the heart of the experience.
Lab Note: This turns “the intestines”—a topic that rarely excites casual interest—into something people can experience as a game. The weaker a product category’s everyday B2C touchpoints are, the more memorable it is to let people experience it physically rather than explaining it in words. Morinaga Milk Industry’s booth is a great example of that principle.
Apparel and Retail Placed Characters in Storefronts and Digital Spaces
Uniqlo x mofusand — Kids’ T-Shirts Released at 990 Yen Each
On April 7, Uniqlo released kids’ T-shirts in collaboration with mofusand, an illustration series popular on social media. mofusand is a series of kitty illustrations created by the illustrator Juno. The T-shirts were priced at 990 yen each (tax included) (Inside (in Japanese)).
Uniqlo x Gundam — Life-Size AR Appears in Front of Stores
Timed to the release of its “Mobile Suit Gundam 45th Anniversary UT” collection, Uniqlo announced that it would roll out AR content at seven stores nationwide. Holding up a smartphone near a participating store makes a life-size RX-78-2 Gundam appear, with the experience scheduled to launch on April 14. An “Anywhere Gundam” (Dokodemo Gundam) version of the AR content that can be enjoyed without visiting a store was also released on April 10 (Mogura VR (in Japanese)).
Lab Note: Uniqlo is rolling out 990-yen kids’ T-shirts and storefront AR—initiatives with very different investment levels—at the exact same time. By pairing a campaign designed to drive purchases with a campaign people can experience without buying anything, a brand can target both actual buyers and the broader audience that spreads word of mouth.
Tamagotchi x Kutsushitaya — Embroidered Socks in a First-Ever Collaboration
Specialty sock retailer Kutsushitaya announced its first-ever collaboration with Tamagotchi, releasing five items including embroidered socks in Japan and overseas starting April 11. The “Back-Tag Tamagotchi Embroidered Socks” were priced at 1,980 yen each (tax included). In addition to Kutsushitaya stores in Japan, the items were sold at Tabio stores in China, South Korea, the United States, France, and the United Kingdom. Since launching in 1996, Tamagotchi has sold a cumulative total of 94 million units worldwide (Anime! Anime! (in Japanese)).
Lab Note: The longer-running an IP is, the more room it has to expand beyond toys and collectibles into everyday practical goods. Putting a character on socks—an item people wear daily—makes it easy for shoppers who are not hardcore collectors to pick them up as well.
Kuriko and Sanrio Multiplied Triggers for Fan Participation
Chiikawa-Yaki — Specialty Shop Celebrates Grand Opening in Yokohama
On April 7, Kuriko held the grand opening of Japan’s first “Chiikawa-yaki” specialty shop at Yokohama World Porters. Staff bake cakes shaped like Chiikawa, Hachiware, and Usagi right inside the store, filled with six different fillings including ogura sweet red bean paste, cream, and chocolate. Purchases were limited to a maximum of six pieces per person, and visiting the store required an advance online lottery reservation (Inside (in Japanese)).
Lab Note: By combining purchase limits with lottery reservations so that “just lining up doesn’t guarantee you can buy one,” the store turns the act of visiting itself into an event. A live-demonstration storefront where treats are baked on-site also serves as a customer-drawing mechanism built around social media sharing.
Sanrio Character Ranking — 40th Anniversary Features 37 Entries in the Partner Division
Voting for the “2025 Sanrio Character Ranking” kicked off on April 10. Out of more than 450 Sanrio characters, 90 characters entered the competition. The ranking began in 1986 and celebrated its 40th anniversary this year. A “Partner Division,” in which corporate and municipal mascots pair up with Sanrio characters, was held simultaneously with 37 pairs entered. Results were scheduled to be announced on June 29 at “SANRIO FES 2025” at Pacifico Yokohama (Anime! Anime! (in Japanese)).
In addition to online voting, fans could also cast votes based on the amount of their purchases at Sanrio shops.
Lab Note: Including municipal and corporate characters in the popularity poll brings each partner’s own fan base into the Sanrio ranking vote. For companies with their own in-house mascots, this case demonstrates the option of piggybacking on an established large-scale voting event.
Kochi Prefecture Cultivated the Next Generation of the Anime Industry Through Events
Kochi Anikuri Fest 2025 — New and Established IPs Gather Across 13 Booths
On April 5 and 6, “Kochi Anikuri Fest 2025” (Kochi Anikuri-sai 2025) was held in Kochi Prefecture, centered around the Kochi Prefectural Gymnasium. The event is part of the “Kochi Anime Creator Sacred Ground Project.” The main venue featured 13 exhibition booths, six sales booths, and seven stage programs, with franchises such as Detective Conan, Tamagotchi, and Touken Ranbu exhibiting. Takara Tomy, KADOKAWA, and Shueisha also set up booths. Admission was free (Anime! Anime! (in Japanese)).
The event extended beyond the Prefectural Gymnasium to the Obiyamachi shopping arcade and Omachi Multipurpose Plaza, involving the entire town.
Kochi Anime Creator Award 2025 — Discovering New Talent with Up to 30 Million Yen in Prizes and Support
The “Kochi Anime Creator Award 2025,” which held its award ceremony on the same day, April 5, received 293 submissions from Japan and abroad. The number of entries was more than double that of the previous edition, and 30 works were nominated. Up to 30 million yen in prizes and support—including a 3-million-yen Grand Prix prize—was announced, with the Grand Prix going to Kujira wo Yumemu (“Dreaming of a Whale”) by Shuzuku (Branc (in Japanese)).
Lab Note: Kochi held a festival gathering booths from major IPs and an award discovering next-generation creators on the exact same weekend. Advancing a festival that draws fans alongside a system that nurtures creators appears essential for helping an anime industry take root in a regional area.
Physical Places (Venues)
- Sapporo Breweries' YEBISU BREWERY TOKYO experience hub and 10M-yen custom tank service
- Heaven Burns Red's four-week spa collaboration at Toshimaen Niwa no Yu
- Kuriko's lottery-reservation Chiikawa-yaki specialty shop in Yokohama
Shared Time (Milestones)
- Mizuho's two-day Yomiuri Shimbun spread timed to Mrs. GREEN APPLE's Phase 2 anniversary
- Yamasa's Korean-style saengil birthday ads celebrating actor Yo Oizumi across three regions
Technology (Immersion & AI)
- GMO Pepabo's one-on-one casual recruiting interviews inside the VRChat world NAGiSA
- Horiemon AI School and Nonomen Legend's AI Character Agency for celebrity IP
- Morinaga Milk Industry's voice- and brainwave-controlled VR shooting game for Expo 2025
Source: The Oshi Lab’s summary of the article
This Week’s Takeaways
This week, companies rebuilt their touchpoints with fans from three directions: “places,” “time,” and “technology.”
Sapporo Breweries’ experience hub, Toshimaen “Niwa no Yu,” and the Chiikawa-yaki specialty shop are all investments in physical “places” where fans actually travel on foot. Mizuho and Yamasa Soy Sauce ran advertisements timed to “time”—anniversaries and birthdays that fans already hold dear. And GMO Pepabo’s VRChat recruiting interviews, the AI character agency jointly opened by Horiemon AI School and Nonomen Legend, and Morinaga Milk Industry’s VR shooting game share a common thread as well: each takes immersive design honed at fan events and repurposes it for a different goal, whether recruiting or building a new business.
In the Sanrio Character Ranking Partner Division, corporations piggybacked on a character popularity poll. At the Kochi Anime Creator Award, prize money and production support were prepared for next-generation creators. It is also striking that corporate initiatives and municipal initiatives lined up in the exact same week. Initiatives that gather fans and initiatives that nurture creators may look like separate efforts at first glance, yet they work in tandem within the same region and the same IP ecosystem. Alongside our guides to Oshikatsu Marketing Design Principles and How to Create a Collaboration Cafe, take a fresh look at the “places” and “time” where your own company can build touchpoints with fans.
Weekly Oshikatsu News brings you a weekly roundup of the intersection between oshikatsu and business. You can browse past issues in the Oshikatsu x News category.
