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.?, 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 ¡±(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.

Some 78,000 bananas will be given out throughout the race to the 32,000 marathon runners at four spots along the 42.2-km route.?The soundness of the science behind the singing seems to be a minor point. The company alludes to it only by having a slightly skeptical ¡°Chief Quality Officer Alberto¡± of the plantation say in the promotional video clip that he ¡°heard somewhere that playing music for the fruit? increases the sugar content . . . They¡¯re nutritious either way, so why not give it a shot.¡±

With or without music, the Lakatan bananas have about twice the citric acid as the more commonly eaten Cavendish variety. Citric acid is popular as a diet and sports nutrition ingredient in Japan, and these little guys will continue to be sold as ¡°sports bananas¡± once the race is over. They¡¯re quite a bit smaller than the bananas usually sold in Japan, with a slightly tarter taste and denser, slightly orangey flesh. They¡¯ll be available in grocery stores for about ?300 a bunch, and sports shops will also be selling them experimentally for the month after the marathon.

Dentsu, Young & Rubicam is the PR company behind the , as well as those memorable spots with Shingo Katori sprouting bananas from his face. Just us, but we find the music thing a lot less disturbing.