Caster was a Japanese brand of

cigarette A cigarette is a narrow cylinder containing a combustible material, typically tobacco, that is rolled into thin paper for smoking. The cigarette is ignited at one end, causing it to smolder; the resulting smoke is orally inhaled via the opp ...

s that was owned and manufactured by

Japan Tobacco Hepburn: ''Nippon Senbai Kōsha'' , type = 1985-: Public (''kabushiki gaisha'') 1949-1985: Statutory corporation , traded_as = , industry = FoodTobacco , foundation = 1898 (as Imperial Japanese Tobacco Company)1 June 1949 (as Japan Tobacco ...

History

The first Caster variant was launched on July 1, 1982 by the former ''"Nippon Monopoly Corporation".'' Tobacco used in Caster cigarettes also used vanilla from

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

(Caster Frontier used chocolate fragrance). Over time, other variants were also introduced, such as Caster Mild, Caster Super Mild and Caster One. In 2003, Caster Super Mild was released in

Hiroshima is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 1,199,391. The gross domestic product (GDP) in Greater Hiroshima, Hiroshima Urban Employment Area, was US$61.3 billion as of 2010. Kazumi Matsui h ...

prefecture with a

limited edition The terms special edition, limited edition, and variants such as deluxe edition, or collector's edition, are used as a marketing incentive for various kinds of products, originally published products related to the arts, such as books, prints, r ...

design that emphasized the initial letter "C" of Caster. In the summer of 2004, the 5-packs of Caster cigarettes were renewed, but the Mild and Super Mild packs were not renewed and were still using the old design. In December 2007, all Caster variants got a new design, and the old logo and emblem were restored. Since early April 2010, the cigarettes have an improved perfume balance and ''"D-spec"'' (the name of a low-odor cigarette) was introduced. Caster Mild is the most popular variant, sometimes abbreviated as ''"Casemai"'' in Japanese. After the

2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami The occurred at 14:46 JST (05:46 UTC) on 11 March. The magnitude 9.0–9.1 (M) undersea megathrust earthquake had an epicenter in the Pacific Ocean, east of the Oshika Peninsula of the Tōhoku region, and lasted approximately six minutes ...

struck Japan, Japan Tobacco announced they would stop selling the Caster One, and Caster Menthol variants. However, the original

duty-free shop A duty-free shop (or store) is a retail outlet whose goods are exempt from the payment of certain local or national taxes and duties, on the requirement that the goods sold will be sold to travelers who will take them out of the country, who ...

only packs of Caster Classic were renewed and were sold again. The pack design changed again around the beginning of August 2012, as the emblem designed on the upper left became bigger. In addition, "Frontier Light" was integrated into the Caster brand and renewed to "Caster Frontier One" (here the ''"D-spec"'' was not yet introduced, and the filter was also a common charcoal filter. The product was a dual charcoal filter bundle). In addition, it was renamed as "ERR 1" at the time of transition to the Winston brand. In 2015, all Caster products except one were merged with the Winston brand, leaving only Gold Silk as the only remaining brand of Cigarette with the name Caster on it. Eventually, Gold Silk would also be discontinued in November 2016.

In the 1980s, Japan Tobacco created various poster advertisements in which actor

Tatsuya Fuji is a Japanese actor. He was born in Beijing and raised in Yokohama. In 1962, Fuji joined Nikkatsu Company and began his acting career with small roles in Nikkatsu film. In 1968, Fuji married actress Izumi Ashikawa. He gained popularity throu ...

appeared. ''"I'm me, this tastes like"'' was a slogan he used in those adverts. In the 1990s, some television advertisements were also made to promote Caster cigarettes. Some old

telephone card A telephone card, calling card or phonecard for short, is a credit card-size plastic or paper card, used to pay for telephone services (often international or long-distance calling). It is not necessary to have the physical card except with a st ...

s also had Caster advertisements on them.

Markets

Caster cigarettes were mainly sold in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

, but were also sold in

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

and

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

Products

Below are all the variants of Caster cigarettes, with the levels of

tar Tar is a dark brown or black viscous liquid of hydrocarbons and free carbon, obtained from a wide variety of organic materials through destructive distillation. Tar can be produced from coal, wood, petroleum, or peat. "a dark brown or black bit ...

and

nicotine Nicotine is a natural product, naturally produced alkaloid in the nightshade family of plants (most predominantly in tobacco and ''Duboisia hopwoodii'') and is widely used recreational drug use, recreationally as a stimulant and anxiolytic. As ...

included.

References

{{reflist Japanese cigarette brands Japan Tobacco brands

History

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Markets

Products

See also

References