“Anshin Saiten” CM Beauty Kaede Aono Also Holds a Black Belt in Karate Right now, there’s a CM that’s so catchy it sticks in your head and won’t let go. It’s a CM for the funeral brand “Anshin Saiten” (Gojoil Co., Ltd.), where a beautiful woman places both hands on her chest in time with the waltz rhythm of “♪Moshimo no toki wa~ Anshin Saiten♪.” When the CM began airing this May, it ranked first among women aged 60 and over in the “August ’25 CM Favorability Survey” conducted by the CM General Research Institute. Remarkably, this was the first time a wedding and funeral CM had achieved such a ranking. So who is this “CM beauty” who instantly became a topic of conversation? For a while, the melody wouldn’t leave my head She is Kaede Aono (33), active as both a model and an actress. After graduating high school, she moved from Hyogo Prefecture to Tokyo to pursue modeling. While affiliated with a talent agency, she was chosen in 2012 as an “Imadoki Girl” for the “Imadoki” segment of “Mezamashi TV” (Fuji TV), introducing trendy things and topics. This January, she also appeared in the drama “Private Banker” (TV Asahi), starring Toshio Karasawa (62). “Actually, my house doesn’t have a TV, so I’ve never seen my own CM on air. I did check it when it was finished, but that was it. So I didn’t really feel it was real But during the shoot, I sang that song over and over, so for a while afterward, the melody kept playing in my head and I couldn’t get it out (laughs). I was honestly happy to get so many messages from friends saying, ‘I saw it!’” When asked if the CM has made her more recognizable, she shook her head slightly. “I don’t get approached on the street not at all (laughs). The CM me has a bright vibe in time with the melody, but normally I’m a bit more reserved, almost the opposite, so I think people just don’t recognize me.” Just as she smiles gently in the CM, her clear white skin and jet-black hair leave a strong impression, giving off an almost classic Japanese beauty aura. However, the real Kaede Aono also has an unexpected side: she is a black belt in full-contact karate. Full-contact karate, literally a direct strike style, doesn’t exactly scream reassuring. “When I was in first grade, I told my father, who was a karate instructor, that I wanted to visit a karate dojo so I could win a fight with a boy my age. My father immediately prepared a gi as if he had been waiting for this (laughs), and I joined the dojo where he was the master. For the promotion exam, I completed the ten-person kumite, sparring ten people in a row while getting a nosebleed. I earned my black belt in sixth grade. But during middle school, I got really into softball and drifted away from karate for those three years.”