Apple Looks to 2021 With Japanese New Year Ad Highlighting the App Store

Sunday December 27, 2020 6:14 pm PST by Joe Rossignol

Apple today shared a new App Store ad on its YouTube channel in Japan ahead of the New Year. The brief 15-second video highlights various apps available on the App Store for productivity, connecting with others, and gaming.

The ad emphasizes how the App Store can help people get off to a good start in 2021, complete with colorful animations. New Year or "Shōgatsu" is widely considered the most important holiday in Japan, observed on January 1-3.

Apple also typically holds a one-day New Year's shopping event in Japan in early January, offering Apple Store gift cards with the purchase of select Apple products, but it has yet to announce an event of this kind for 2021. This year, the event took place on January 2 at Apple Stores in Japan and through the Apple Store app.

Update: Apple has announced that the shopping event will be held January 2-3.

Tags: App Store, Apple Ads

Popular Stories

Apple Says Mac is 'Best Choice for College' in New Ad Aimed at Students

Monday May 11, 2026 6:36 am PDT by Joe Rossignol

Apple today shared a new ad that promotes MacBooks as the "best choice for college." In the 90-second video, students are frustrated by but eventually overcome creative block while working on assignments like screenplays and CADs. "Mac laptops are your best choice for college," says Apple. "Whether you're studying business, engineering, design, or the arts — get started on Mac." The...

• 23 comments

Ads Aren't in the Apple Maps App Yet, But They're Coming Soon

Wednesday May 13, 2026 4:15 pm PDT by Juli Clover

Apple released iOS 26.5 yesterday with a new Suggested Places feature in the Apple Maps app, which is a precursor to the ads that Apple plans to start showing later this year. There was some confusion over whether ads are live, but as of now, the Apple Maps app still doesn't have ads. Apple did start laying the groundwork for ads in iOS 26.5 and tested a splash screen, but no ads appeared...

• 175 comments

Apple Introduces App Store Monthly Subscriptions With 12-Month Commitment

Monday April 27, 2026 12:52 pm PDT by Eric Slivka

Apple today announced the launch of a new subscription option for App Store developers: monthly subscriptions with a 12-month commitment. The new option allows developers to offer subscribers discounted pricing typically associated with an annual subscription but paid on a monthly basis to keep payments more affordable. This new payment option allows you to offer subscribers more affordable...

• 146 comments

Top Rated Comments

farewelwilliams

71 months ago

japan is great and their culture is amazing in many ways. highly recommend people traveling to Japan after covid is over.

Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)

patent10021

71 months ago

I live down the street from the Kyoto Apple Store. The end of this year can't come any sooner. One bonus of Covid is there are no tourists so there are amazing pictures to be had everywhere.

Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)

MacLC

71 months ago

Another noisy ad. Doesn’t matter what language it’s in, the ad’s soundtrack must be jarring to your ears. If it’s not, it’s probably a fake ad or a parody.

Nope, clicking the link it's from Apple Japan, so it's real 😢
It's the typical "dasai" hiphop that we've had to put up with over the past 15 years.

We have so much good pop music here, but Japanese marketers insert hiphop because it combines an "exotically foreign" beat with "safely understandable Japanese" lyrics.

There's nothing more astroturf than upperclass Japanese youth running around flashing bizarre hand gestures, saying, "yo, saggu raifu, yo" ("yo, thug life, yo") trying so hard to be repressed minorities despite being part of the affluent 99% majority.

As for what most Japanese listen to, it's something more along the lines of this, which is one of the songs to be performed at the Tokyo Olympics.

Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)

madrigal77

71 months ago

japan is great and their culture is amazing in many ways. highly recommend people traveling to Japan after covid is over.

I normally go for New Year, but obviously didn’t this year. And I just saw there was a Covid exposure on the flight we normally take from Vancouver to Tokyo. I don’t know why all international passenger flights haven’t been shut down.

Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)