Hi everyone! OK, the title is more than a bit silly, but I’m using it to introduce a series of ads that are now running in Nagoya featuring the visage of figure skater (and Nagoya native son) Shoma Uno. The product is a body gel that claims to give you a “hot body” with no real effort other than rubbing the gel on your belly. Worth a try!
I thought it was worth posting, because the ads are quite short with easy to read graphic design, and they give a good chance to practice reading kanji taught on WaniKani. Also, they aren’t exactly easy to translate (some more than others), but they’re kind of funny once you do.
I’ll post the ads, with a blurred (rough) translation so you can see how far you get. I consulted with my resident expert to get decent translations.
HOTけない is a pun on ほっとけない (not leave you alone). So the ad means (roughly) “let’s get a body that won’t be ignored”
(roughly) “The thing that melts in the heat of summer is not your fat but your will to change.”
(roughly) “Even if you walk the full length of this long ad, you’ll only use up 3 calories.”
(roughly) “Why not apply it [the gel] with the hand that’s not carrying your smartphone?”
(roughly) “Because Nagoya has so many good things to eat”
(roughly) “‘I’ll start doing it tomorrow’ is a frequently forgotten resolution”
(roughly) “Even though I don’t ask for it, the snack I am given has zero calories” This one is worth explaining a little more. So the first part (頼んでもないのに) is easy: “Even though I don’t ask for it”. The next bit (差し入れが) is trickier: 差し入れ in this case refers to a snack or food that is given or presented to someone.
(roughly) “We welcome your purchase even as a last resort.” 駆け込み is like a last minute rush, or something tried out of desperation, and お買い求め is the way a polite merchant might refer to a customer’s purchase.
(very roughly) “If you go no-carb too much, do you also go no-will?”
(roughly) “This summer, be careful of sweet words and sweet things.” (probably a satire on general public safety warning ads)
(roughly) “Let’s change first impressions.” (with a pun on 塗り替える because while that phrase means “to remake or redo”, 塗る is also what you do with the product: you apply it to your body.)
(roughly) “You’re thinking to yourself: 'it’s still not at the point where I’ll actually go to the gym” (行くほどじゃない means “not (yet) at the point of going.”)
(roughly) “I think ‘gel training’ is simpler than ‘gym training’.”)
So that’s all! Did you understand all of them or any of them or none of them?
and your eight pack with DHC hot body gel” and put it on a billboard. A bit of a limited audience for those using WK in Nagoya though 
