How to stand out in a crowd? It's no easy task if you're living in a city of millions. That's unless the city is Tokyo and you're not exactly Japanese. Meet the New Yorker who, as a minority, is finding appeal among the majority.
The Japanese mobile phone ad features an average Tokyo family with some quirks. Dad is a dog, the eldest brother, not Japanese.
Meet Dante Carver. An African American actor and New York native who according to Japans' top marketing research company, is Japan's number one TV commercial actor. A stunning achievement for a non-Japanese.
His image is everywhere, billboards, and television; an unexpected face in Japanese pop culture. Three years in the running, Carver's Softbank ad campaign remains wildly, if not curiously, popular. Dante says, "That's another reason I came (to Japan). Because it's something most people wouldn't expect."
The Virginia Commonwealth University International Business graduate uprooted to Japan five years ago, looking to boldly change his American path and try acting.
With no family or connections in Japan, friends called him crazy. But he taught himself Japanese, started auditioning and landed the role that turned him into a familiar household face. He's even found love, marrying this year.
What explains his success? Dante says, "Being different, but being open. I say being different, for one, what people would expect, blatantly obvious."
http://www.todaysthv.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=133263&catid=70He's also a Virginian, so I like him already!
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