Did you know that Fukuoka had a hand in Tokyo’s successful Olympic bid for 2020? The promotional video that the Tokyo 2020 Bid Committee showed at the International Olympic Committee general meeting was created by a Fukuoka-based music and video production company called Koo-Ki. The elaborate meshing of scenes, including the medalists walking in the London Olympics parade, the hustle and bustle of Tokyo’s Ginza and young fans cheering in a stadium, was even hailed by a foreign media outlet as “Spielberg-esque”. The effort was led by two Koo-Ki directors, Kan Eguchi and Kei Uehara, the former of whom was contacted by a member of the bid committee who liked Eguchi’s previous work. Eguchi, who graduated from the Kyushu Institute of Design, launched Koo-Ki in 1997. In 2007, a commercial Koo-Ki made for a sports equipment maker won a medal in the TV commercial division of Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. Source: Nishinippon Shimbun 9/13, Official Koo-ki HP: http://www.koo-ki.co.jp
