It seems that everywhere you look in Japan these days, printed advertising has Internet-style "search buttons" somewhere in the design, with Japanese text inside a box indicating the term to be searched. And many TV commercials end with a short phrase "such and such de kensaku" ("search on the Internet for such and such").

These techniques are used to guide people beyond the ads and onto the Internet. Advertisers expect viewers to be interested enough in the product being advertised to search for the given keyword on Yahoo! or Google, on PC or mobile phone — which in turn leads the potential customer to their website.

This style of ad was first introduced a few years ago and has rapidly become an advertising standard. Most printed ads now feature this search-engine box-and-button design.