A series of promotional videos featuring a trio of Heian period (794-1185) noblemen being transported to present day Kyoto and enjoying everything the city has to offer is getting a lot of buzz online.

The first of these videos, which are part of an ongoing campaign to promote the city of Kyoto, was uploaded to Kyoto City’s official YouTube channel in October of last year. The videos feature the professional 3 man dance troupe TRIQSTAR as a trio of Heian nobles (kizoku) who after being mysteriously transported to modern day Kyoto take on the name Heisei KIZOKU. This name is a reference to both the current period of Japan (Heisei) and a popular boy band called Hey! Say! JUMP.

Party people!

The first of these videos introduces us to the trio of breakdancing noblemen and shows us the various things that make them fall in love with the Kyoto of today. However, while the Kyoto scenery is great what really makes this video stand out is the interesting combination of the period costumes, amazing dance moves and distinctly modern music. The video is about 2 and a half minutes long and really worth checking out. It even features some English narration. Check it out below.

Since the release of the first video the city of Kyoto has released three more short videos, each of which focuses on a different aspect of life in Kyoto. The first of these videos proudly boasts that no child that lives in Kyoto has to wait to get into preschool. Sadly, due to a shortage of preschools and preschool teachers many children in other Japanese cities face long waits before they are admitted to their local public preschool. However, as the video makes abundantly clear, if you move to Kyoto you don’t have to worry about that. Of course, the video also features some of that great Heisei KIZOKU dancing. And if you’d like to know exactly what

a translation of the song lyrics can be found under the video.



No one is waiting

No one is waiting

There are plenty of preschools

Net a single person is waiting

And on top of that there’s plenty of preschool teachers

Everybody is having fun dancing

Everybody is happily going to school

In late December the city of Tokyo released two more short videos. The first of these features a 93-year old Kyoto runner and is meant to promote participation in a city health program, which rewards people who engage in healthy living practices with points that can eventually lead to winning prizes.

The second of the videos released in December tries to get people to relocate to Kyoto’s countryside by highlighting some of the benefits of country living. It also features Heisei KIZOKU dancing but this time in a farm setting. The translated lyrics can again be found below the video.

Won’t you try living in the countryside?

Won’t you try living in the countryside?

How about relocating?

The people and nature are nice

And it’s relatively close to the city

We’re waiting for you in the north of Kyoto City

We’re waiting for you to come

Currently, 14 more Heisei KIZOKU videos are set to be released between now and March of this year but in case you’d like to see more of TRIQSTAR’s crazy dance moves then you can check out their appearance on Asia’s Got Talent in the video below.

Sources: netorarebo, SPICE