Suntory "Penguin" Cans: 1983-1989
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This month let's go back to Japan's Suntory Brewing. I covered their bird set from the mid 1970s as my October 2010 COM. Another popular set of Suntory cans are their Penguin series which ran from 1983-1989. I don't know as much about this series as I do the bird set, but here's a few interesting things I have learned about their 1980s Penguin cans.
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There are over 125 Penguin cans in the set. The main penguin is "Mike." He appeared in several Suntory ads. In each Mike moons over a pretty girl penguin named Jill. He'd find solace listening to a song, "Sweet Memories" by Seiko Matsuda, and enjoying a Suntory Beer. The ads were popular enough that the characters' story was made into an animated movie, Penguin’s Memory (Shiawase Monogatari) which is apparently sort of like "The Deer Hunter" with Japanese penguins. (Left, a tiny can for a beer vending machine) |
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