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Pikotarō & Justin Bieber Finally Meet in Softbank Commercial
posted on by Eric Stimson
Pikotarō, the stage name of Japanese comedian Kazuhito "Daimaō" Kosaka, has become a worldwide hit with his bizarre viral music video "PPAP (Pen-Pineapple-Apple-Pen)." The video caught on largely thanks to the Canadian heartthrob singer Justin Bieber, who shared it on his Twitter feed:
My favorite video on the internethttps://t.co/oJOqMMyNvw
— Justin Bieber (@justinbieber) September 27, 2016
Pikotarō has since acknowledged his debt to Bieber and thanked him for his support. He hadn't met him in person, though, until they filmed a commercial in January for the telecommunications firm SoftBank.
The commercial will most likely advertise a SoftBank student discount (that's what Bieber is saying as he walks through school). Pikotarō also thanked Bieber again ("Thanks to you, I'm famous all over the world now"), even claiming that he would change his name to honor his debt.
Meanwhile, Pikotarō has unveiled his latest video, "Where Am I? I'm Here." The lyrics point out that "above right right, above right right, above right right is... up and to the right," "left, left, left, left, left, left, right, right, right, right, right is... a little to the left," "up, up, up, up, up, up, up, up is... really far up" and "front, front, front, front, back, back, back, back is... here, where I am."
"PPAP" has racked up over 113 million views of one version of the video alone. Its fame has earned Pikotarō a parody starring Death Note's Ryuk, an award from Yahoo! Japan for racking up searches, and a spot on the halftime show of the prestigious New Year's Eve Kōhaku Uta Gassen ("Red and White Song Contest").
Source: Oricon News