Dole's “Bringing Smiles with Fruit.” “Transforming the banana section into entertainment.” The legendary “Banana Bancho” returns!! Keigo Sato (JO1) and Issei Mamehara (JO1) make their first appearance as rivals.

Dole Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Chuo-ku, Tokyo; President and CEO: Hiroshi Aoki; hereinafter “Dole”), which promotes “Bringing Smiles with Fruit.” as its brand message, is promoting “Banana Katsu®” (Banana Activities) to support healthy daily lives by encouraging continuous banana consumption.

Dole is pleased to announce the launch of “Dole Banana Bancho season 2 - It's Sweet! But that's not all!? Banana Bancho Rivals Appear Edition” from April 2026, as a sequel to the highly popular “Dole Banana Katsu® Supporter Banana Bancho” project, which garnered a great response in 2025. In Season 2, in addition to Dole Banana Katsu Supporter Banana Bancho, Keigo Sato (JO1), Dole Banana Katsu Supporter Young Banana Bancho, Issei Mamehara (JO1), will make a new appearance. Through the new “Banana Bancho” world woven by the two rivals, we will further energize banana sales floors nationwide.

The “Dole Banana Katsu® Supporter Banana Bancho” project, which started in 2025, brought great vitality to banana sales floors nationwide with Mr. Sato's impactful visual in a greaser hairstyle and the project's aim to “turn banana sales floors into entertainment.” It was rolled out in 11,450 food supermarkets and other stores across all prefectures from Hokkaido to Okinawa, creating a movement that transformed some sales floors into “fan pilgrimage sites” and making the sales floor itself a destination. It achieved No. 1 in trending topics on X (formerly Twitter), over 500 media mentions, and over 12 million SNS impressions, generating a response that transcended the food category.

In Season 2 of 2026, building on these achievements, the project content will be powered up. We aim to strengthen the storytelling by introducing new rivals and generate even more buzz than last year. In addition, we will gradually roll out multiple PR measures to keep the project exciting throughout the year.

■About the New Visuals

　In conjunction with the start of Season 2 of the “Dole Banana Katsu® Supporter Banana Bancho” project, new visuals for “Banana Bancho” played by Keigo Sato (JO1) and “Young Banana Bancho” played by Issei Mamehara (JO1) will be released. This work expresses a world that evokes a school drama-like story, centered on the rivalry between the two. The visual rollout, which evolves the sales floor itself into an entertainment space where people can enjoy shopping, is scheduled to be unveiled sequentially at banana sales floors nationwide from early April.

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