Mitsukaido, Japan -- Arnold Schwarzenegger's leap from actor to California governor has had an unusual side effect: It's reviving interest in some very bizarre commercials he starred in over in Japan.

The ads, for products like Cup of Noodles, were made in the mid-1990s and never aired in the U.S.

But Alan Soiseth, a Canadian who teaches English in Japan, has made the clips available to folks outside of Japan on his website, japander.com. He says as soon as "Ahnuld" announced his candidacy, people started contacting him about the ads.

One has to wonder how California voters would have reacted had they seen the ads prior to election day.

In one, a woman opens a bottle of energy elixir and sees Arnie -- clad in a gold outfit worthy of Siegfried & Roy -- riding around maniacally on an old-fashioned bicycle.

But perhaps the most eerie clip is the one for Direct TV which shows "The Governator" as the President of the United States.

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