"At midnight Monday [Monday was Aug 31; the sale actually was on sale Sept 1 0:00 am--midnight between Aug 31 and Sept 1], the phones started lighting up. Four hours later, the entire run of 15,000 two-card sets had been sold, each for about $15.40. The precise time of the last set sold: 4.18 am Tuesday.
"This is how a spokeswoman for the EasyCard Corp, which is 40 percent-owned by the Taipei government, described her last week as she defended the company’s decision to put Hatano's images on the cards. The photos, Lin Hsiao-chi said, conveyed a 'fresh, healthy and beautiful 清新、健康、唯美' image, according to Taiwan’s Central News Agency. 'This set of cards is suitable to put in your wallet and collect,' Lin said. 'When you look at it, it will cheer you up. [悠遊卡公司說，波多野結衣的卡片很有收藏價值，也讓人心情愉悅， 期待外界用健康眼光 （中央社: '正面角度') 看待]'
"It all apparently began with a simple demand from Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je. He reportedly asked the chairman of EasyCard to double the company’s business. And the mayor didn’t learn about the decision to enlist Hatano until local reporters asked about it at a community meeting, according to the Central News Agency.
"Hatano’s fans cared little about the uproar. Some set up a Facebook page called ‘Purchase Yui Hatano EasyCards,’ which drew 47,000 followers. By Monday night, there were nearly 1,700 messages, according to the Central News Agency. ‘This was the first time I wanted to contribute to charity this much, but not even a single phone call got through,’ one fan wrote on the page.
“我永遠支持妳，甘巴爹！（日文 ‘加油’的意思）”
(i) Japanese English dictionary
* gambaru 頑張る(ateji) 【がんばる】 (v): "(1) to persevere; to persist; to keep at it; to hang on; to hold out; to do one's best; (2) to insist that; to stick to (one's opinion); (3) to remain in a place; to stick to one's post; to refuse to budge"
(This is the dictionary form, the root.")
* gambatte 頑張って 【がんばって】 (exp[ression]): "do your best; go for it; hold on; keep at it"
(“The word “gambatte” -- akin to the progressive form of an English verb -- is used in daily life, because it is simply grammatically incorrect to use a verb--unlike in English.)
(ii) ateji 当て字, 宛字 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ateji
means Japanese sounds came first, then Japanese (people) look for kanji -- using its Chinese OR Japanese pronunciations -- to represent the sounds, without serious concern about the Chinese meaning of the kanji.