Lighttuce: Death Note’s Tatsuya Fujiwara turns into lettuce to combat food waste

Light Yagami has now turned into lettuce. You read that right.

Japanese actor Tatsuya Fujiwara, 44 and best known for playing the beloved Death Note character in the 2006 live action film, is working with Ajinomoto to combat food waste.

How, you ask?

By being the face of the campaign, literally.

Recent heatwaves make it difficult to maintain the freshness of lettuce, and according to Ajinomoto’s survey, a majority of respondents buying lettuce are throwing it away because they can’t finish it before it goes bad.

The research also reportedly found that nearly 80 per cent of respondents mainly eat lettuce as a salad, with many saying they struggle to think of other ways to use the whole vegetable before it spoils.

Ajinomoto is collaborating with agricultural cooperative JA Zen-Noh Nagano which produces most of Japan’s lettuce between the summer and autumn months.

This is where Tatsuya comes in.

Select lettuces will now be wrapped with plastic packaging printed with his face.

The campaign has been named Please Buy It and 10,000 of it will be available in the Tokyo metropolitan area and Kansai region while stocks last.

Sales have already started at Ginza Nagano and will be expanded to selected supermarkets from July 25 onwards.

Unfortunately, the vegetables won’t come with a notebook for you to write the names of your enemies, but it will provide a QR code linked to lettuce recipes.

Tatsuya recently promoted the campaign through an Instagram post, telling his followers: “If you find it, please let me know.”

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In a cheeky X post on July 21, Ajinomoto shared “comments” from Tatsuya, who recalled how he had been asked to be part of the collaboration.

“‘We’re in a lettuce crisis, so could you lend us your face?’ That was the request.

‘Sure,’ I replied, and it really turned out to be a job where I had to ‘lend my face’. Why…? I’ll be waiting for you at the sales counter.”

The post has gone viral with 29,000 shares and 99,000 likes, and amused netizens are flooding the replies and quotes.

“Locked eyes with the lettuce in the fridge. I felt nothing but terror. When I consulted my friend, they told me to go to the hospital,” remarked one netizen.

“The image of opening the vegetable compartment of the refrigerator and this thing rolling out is just too surreal,” said another.

The official tourism account for Mihama, a town in Mie prefecture in Japan, also took the chance to ask the actor to promote their tangerines, even providing an example with their mascot’s face on the fruits.

In an interview with The Straits Times earlier this year, Tatsuya — who has also starred in other hit movies such as Battle Royale (2000-2003) and The Incite Mill (2010) — said people still call him Light Yagami even though it’s been two decades since the movie was released.

“Every time I hear someone call me Nanahara (from Battle Royale) or Light, it reminds me of how fortunate I was to be part of such remarkable works,” he shared then.

He was in Singapore in April this year to perform the stage play End of the World and Hard-Boiled Wonderland, where he took on the role of data specialist Watashi.

syarifahsn@asiaone.com

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