Blasting an early '90s J-pop song on repeat for a week straight might sound like a dubious military tactic. But Dole is just doing it to give its bananas a little extra pep for the Tokyo Marathon.
A variety of banana called Lakatan will arrive green from the Philippines and then be ripened for eight days in a storage facility after arrival in the Tokyo area. Various companies in Japan have experimented with giving their foods and beverages a bit of culture by letting them mature to Mozart, with "Mozart bananas" getting the most attention. While the Mozart pieces were chosen for frequency profiles that are reported to increase taste quality, the music for the marathon bananas was chosen a bit less scientifically: Dole asked former marathon runners via Twitter what songs they'd most like to hear at different points in the race. The inspirational song "Makenaide! (Don't Give Up!)" by Zard was the hands-down winner, so that's what the bananas are being serenaded with, 24 hours a day, for the eight days leading up to the marathon.