JR East Japan and Calbee are celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Tokaido Shinkansen and the snack ‘Kappa Ebisen’ by launching a collaborative campaign. On May 8th, at Tokyo Station, the departure ceremony for the ‘Strange Shinkansen Kappa Ebisen Go’ celebrated in collaboration was held, with Kanako Momota from the idol group ‘Momoiro Clover Z’ appearing as the special train conductor.
The campaign will release special package versions of Kappa Ebisen from May 13th in succession. These are available in two flavors, Light Salt and French Salad, both bags featuring the Tokaido Shinkansen’s N700S and a character dressed as a conductor. In the illustrations, the logo on the side of the N700S changes to ‘EBI700S’. Rare packages, with a rate of one per several bags, feature the 0 Series for Light Salt, and the 923 ‘Doctor Yellow’ for French Salad.
Furthermore, from mid-August, stickers of the Kappa Ebisen shrimp will be placed on signs for stations along the Tokaido Shinkansen. The shape of the shrimp is made to look like the hiragana character ‘shi’, and will be pasted, for example, on the ‘shi’ part of ‘Gifu Hashima’. Marking the 60th anniversary, a total of 60 hidden shrimps will be displayed in concourses of each station, with a campaign awarding prizes based on the number of shrimps found. According to JR East, this is the first time the company has decorated station signs.
The ‘Kappa Ebisen train’ was a chartered part of the ‘Nozomi 227’ (N700S, J11 formation) that departed from Tokyo station at noon. To mark the 60th anniversary, 60 ‘Kappa Ebisen fans’ aged 60 were invited. Ms. Momota, who was appointed special conductor because of the group’s red image color and for featuring the ‘shrimp jump’ in their songs, appeared in uniform and gave a lively departure signal with a ‘Z pose’ after performing a tape cutting with a ‘Kappa Ebisen tape’ approximately 9 meters long.
Just before the start of the departure ceremony, ‘Doctor Yellow’ (T5 formation) entered the adjacent platform by chance, prompting an excited Ms. Momota to ask the press, ‘Please take a photo with Doctor Yellow’.
The Tokaido Shinkansen began operating between Tokyo and Shin-Osaka stations on October 1, 1964. Kappa Ebisen was launched in 1964 by Calbee’s founder Takashi Matsuo, who was inspired by his childhood favorite, fried shrimp tempura, marking their 60th anniversary this year.
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