Aziz Ansari spotted in Japan.
Despite his notoriety in the West, stand-up comic/actor/writer Aziz Ansari is almost completely unknown in Japan. And yet, it appears that one Japanese company loves him so much that they decided to put him in an advertisement.
Taken by Instagram user @hellofancypop late last month during a visit to Nagasaki, the photo below shows a poster found in front of a small print shop advertising I.D. photo services. Although for the most part unremarkable–unless you need a new passport photo–the poster does have one very interesting thing on it in the top right corner that most Japanese people would totally miss.
Yes, hidden among the nine example I.D. photos on the poster is a picture of none other than Aziz Ansari.
And no, this isn’t a case of someone that just happens to look a whole lot like Ansari. Just take a look at the screenshot below, which shows an image used in a piece written by Ansari for Time magazine.
Given this evidence, which took almost no effort at all to find using a Google image search, it seems like the only logical conclusion is that this Nagasaki print shop decided to use Ansari’s photo without permission. The question remains though, did they do it because they’re fans of Ansari? Or did they just stumble across this photo while looking for images to use in the poster? Either way, it seems that if Ansari ever decides to leave show business, he could just move to Japan to become a passport photo model.
A very special thanks to @hellofancypop for sharing the image with Japankyo. If you’re in the market for some excellent, handmade jewelry, make sure to visit her Etsy page!
Source: @hellofancypop
Images: @hellpfancypop, Time magazine
