OK, the company behind the TV commercial shown above is not really Apple but SoftBank, one of Asia’s biggest telecommunications companies and the carrier for the iPhone in this country.

The SoftBank family seen in the video consists of a father (the white dog), a mother (the woman seen at the end of the clip), a brother (the guy with the glasses who is an American model based in Tokyo) and his sister (Japanese super star Aya Ueto).

The clip is currently on heavy rotation in Japan (where I live) and part of SoftBank’s overall TV marketing strategy (meaning the strange family promotes other SoftBank products as well). The white dog represents SoftBank’s “White Plan”, which makes it possible to get a cell phone contract for just $10 a month.

And you know my standard addendum to this kind of postings: Yes, the Japanese themselves also think this is weird.