Freelance Announcer Aika Kanda Treats 150 People with Exclusive Souvenir Giveaway

For those of you who went on a trip during the year-end and New Year holidays. Have you finished distributing souvenirs to your colleagues at work or school? Some of you bought enough for the number of people, but forgot to hand them out and still have a lot left at home. On the other hand, there are those who made a mistake and found out that they did not have enough, and finally finished distributing them secretly while being selective about who they gave them to. I think there are many different kinds of people. Yes, souvenirs are really difficult. It is not only a matter of having a good sense of what to give away, but also of having the talent to distribute it well.

 

I was in New York during this New Year’s holiday. I have many episodes that I would like to write about in detail in this series, but the topic of the season in my mind is handing out souvenirs. The reason is that the five days from Monday, January 8, when Fuji Television’s “Poka Poka” began airing this year, to Friday, January 12, the day I am writing this column, were my most critical days.

The production team for the band program changes every day of the week. Therefore, the souvenirs must be given not only on the first day of the broadcast, but also every day until Friday, or they will not be distributed to everyone. There is an option to give them only to my co-hosts, but I would like to show my appreciation in some way to each and every one of the program staff who support me as an MC, even though I have no special talent. So I decided to give something to everyone three times a year, during the New Year’s holiday, summer vacation trips, and Valentine’s Day.

The first time I did this was last year on Valentine’s Day. The program staff includes a wide range of people, from producers and ADs to cameramen and sound technicians, as well as performers’ managers and makeup artists. We estimated 30 people per day, for a total of 150 people over the five days.

At the time, I had never bought 150 of the same thing before, and I was scared “what if I couldn’t distribute them all”? Since it was practically impossible to hand them to everyone, we placed them in the aisles and let people take them freely. If some people did not accept the chocolate, there would be a large amount of leftovers. However, I was able to eat the leftover chocolate myself, so I knew that I could manage with food.

However, it would be conservative and boring to keep giving out food. “What should i get”? I had been thinking about this throughout my trip, and finally came across something at HERSHEY’S in Times Square. I finally found something that really hit the spot.

HERSHEY’S is said to be the largest chocolate maker in the U.S. and  my favorite chocolate in the world, no matter how expensive or delicate it is, I am most excited about the HERSHEY’S logo written in silver on a brown background. A box of 10 chocolate-flavored lip balms was hanging on a rack next to the aisle leading to the checkout. When I picked it up, it’s thin! When I took it off the rack, it’s light! In other words, Perfect as a souvenir!

A bombshell that attracts the attention of tourist 

It looked super cute too. From lipsticks with the HERSHEY’S logo on them that excites me, to lipsticks colored in American-style pop pinks and purples, when I put them in the Poka Poka aisle, I can see people picking them up with smiles on their faces. I stood in line  at the cash register with 15 boxes of them, so many that they were spilling out of my arms

As I was being laughed at by people of various nationalities who said Oh! and many! someone called out from behind me, Kanda-san? I was so embarrassed that I tried to pretend for a moment that it was not Kanda-san, but my mother, who is not used to having her name suddenly called by a stranger on the street, reacted reflexively with Yes! I had to turn around. He told me that they are a family of four, with two sons and parents, and as I expected, he said, That’s a lot of food! He laughed and took a picture with his wife. The wife urged the eldest son, Why don’t you take a picture with us too? but the eldest son said, I don’t want a picture with you. We paid the bill with a light heartbreak.

The 15 boxes of lip balm sets were placed in the cardboard boxes we had brought from Japan, and we were able to bring them back to Japan. Finally, it was time to hand them over to the program staff. Unexpected events occurred, and the number of remaining lip balm sets changed day by day. The week began with a battle of wits between the staff and Team Kanda. (To be continued in the next issue)

Aika Kanda was born in 1980 in Kanagawa Prefecture. After graduating from Gakushuin University with a degree in mathematics, she joined NHK as an announcer in 2003, and left in 2012 to become a freelance announcer. Since then, she has been active mainly in variety shows, and currently makes regular appearances as the main MC of the daytime TV program “Poka Poka” (Fuji Television Network).

From the February 2 and 9, 2024 issues of FRIDAY