On May 20, JA Kumamoto released a new promotional anime.

Entitled "Nikoyaka Shokudo" (Smiles Restaurant), the anime is set in a small restaurant which uses various produces of Kumamoto prefecture, including niku (meat), kome (rice), yasai (vegetables), and kajitsu (fruits). The idea is to bring smiles to people through delicious food from Kumamoto.

The production of the anime began in February 2016, but due to a major earthquake in Kumamoto, postponement of the anime release was being considered.

Yet the production team and JA Kumamoto decided to go ahead with the release, because they realized that people need positive message appearing from the earthquake-affected area.

Below is the main lyric to the song in the anime:

When you add the four Japanese characters – "NI", "KO", "YA", "KA" – from the above lyrics, you get "NIKOYAKA" (smiles). The way characters in the anime enjoys Kumamoto's produces certainly put a smile on my face!

You will also see in the anime various items and characters related to Kumamoto – can you guess which one that might be?

The anime director of this video is Koji Aritomi, who used to work in Studio Ghibli, and have worked on various anime including Uchu Kyodai, Terra Formers, and The Heroic Legend of Arslan. In addition, the animation supervisor is Takahiro Ikezoe, who is from Walt Disney Animation Japan.

We hope this 'musical' anime will bring smiles not only to us, but also to people in earthquake-affected areas.