Description: An art piece created as the "Sea Room" at the Museum of Inhomogeneous Nature and People, located within Nagasaki Bana Resort Campground in Bungotakada City, Oita Prefecture, using water-drop projection mapping. By combining a water-drop fountain performance by Water Pearl Co., Ltd. with an ultra-high-speed projector from Tokyo Electron Device Limited, the work achieves precise projection mapping onto a continuous stream of falling water droplets. This new technology, which has been patented internationally, makes it possible to display animations that smoothly move individual water droplets up and down—something that could not be achieved with conventional Water Pearl installations using strobe lighting. These water droplets are real water that can be touched.

Theater content inside the Yanmar Museum. A 7-minute video expressing the challenge story of founder Magokichi Yamaoka. In addition, we produced a standby video featuring Yanbo and Marbo as they build up energy through various challenges.

Projection mapping held at Kanegasaki Green Space in Tsuruga City, Fukui Prefecture.

A work reconfigured from a large-format video piece originally developed for Shinjuku Unicorn Vision, for projection mapping onto two buildings at Nagaoka Institute of Design. The video was created in collaboration with Seiya Nakano. The music was produced by Satoshi & Makoto, who have attracted attention in the electronica scene for their production style using only Casio’s 1990s synthesizer, the CZ-5000. Both Mr. Nakano and Satoshi & Makoto are fans of Kraftwerk, and this work serves as an homage.

Japan’s first national facility dedicated to sharing the history and culture of the Ainu people, Upopoy, opened in Shiraoi, Hokkaido, on Sunday, July 12, 2020. It consists of a folk museum, an interactive field museum, and an Ainu coexistence park, and has drawn attention as a base for reviving and developing the fading Ainu culture. What JKD was in charge of this time was the highlight of Upopoy’s nighttime program starting on Saturday, July 18, 2020: a large-scale show combining projection mapping and lighting. It depicts the Ainu creation myth through a delicate yet dynamic hand-drawn full animation running for just under 14 minutes, synchronized with soul-stirring music and sound design. The visual work is projected mainly onto the walls of the dome-shaped Experience Exchange Hall, as well as the surrounding hills, river, and statues. Lighting placed throughout the vast grounds is tightly synchronized with the music and mapped visuals, creating a mystical spatial experience that draws viewers into the story. Among the audiovisual works JKD has produced so far, this is one of the top three. The music is by OKI, a musician internationally acclaimed for his work with the OKI Dub Ainu Band, and Kuniyuki Takahashi, also based in Sapporo and known worldwide for his activities. To pursue truly authentic expression, the four animators, Ryoji Yamada, Hana Ono, Yutaro Kubo, and Tatsuhiro Ariyoshi, took part in this serious collaboration. The opening and ending motion was handled by Shotaro Tomiyama and Ko Kudo of the JKD visual team, and the overall visual direction was by Shane Lester. The story unfolds through the Ainu creation myth in a vast site facing a beautiful lake. We believe we were able to create an experience that draws viewers in. If you ever have the chance to visit Hokkaido, please be sure to see it.

About the Work “sonus-oleum ; Sonosorium” is a live installation in which visitors can experience works in different forms on each of the three floors of the ship-shaped facility (T-LOTUS M): B1F, 1F, and the rooftop. With the premise that “music becomes the energy that moves the ship,” the work explores the form of music born inside the ship through the following four formats. Live Performance 1 — The Birth of Music — This work begins with a live performance on B1F. The music is an original piece composed by Fumitake Ezaki specifically for this live installation. The performance is by Fumitake Ezaki (piano), Shuntaro Tsuneta (violin), Sonoko Muraoka (cello), and an automatic piano. The venue was designed with eight 3 m × 4 m screens installed on both sides of the performers, enveloping visitors in music and imagery. Real-time motion graphics synchronized with the instruments were projected onto the screens. The elements composing the real-time motion graphics are the piano’s output of keyboard input (88 keys), the strength and duration of pedal presses, and the hand movements of the violin and cello players captured using ring devices. The real-time motion graphics linked to the performers’ movements depict the energy of music being generated and floating upward to the upper levels. Interactive Installation — Variation through Images — The energy of the music born in the B1F live performance appears as bubbles within the interactive work on 1F. Seven 2.4 m × 2.4 m translucent screens were installed throughout the 1F space in alignment with the windows, and interactive visuals were projected onto them. When visitors touch the bubbles displayed on each screen, the bubbles split, and each note of the original piece transforms into a different timbre. Variations born from chance continue to be generated endlessly. Projection Mapping — Music Creates Wind — The variations generated on 1F rise further to the rooftop, where they create the wind that moves the ship. Using four large 30,000-lumen projectors, the wind stirred up by the power of music and striking the sails was projected above the visitors’ heads. Live Performance 2 — A Session with Returned Sound — In the second live performance held on B1F, the automatic piano played in real time the variations generated by visitors touching the bubbles on 1F, while Ezaki (piano), Tsuneta (violin), and Muraoka (cello) improvised along with it. The interplay of visitor-generated variations, improvised live performance, and real-time motion graphics evoked a new form of music. Through these four processes, this live installation created a landscape in which sound was “unlearned” and transformed into new sounds, continuing in circulation. The title “sonus-oleum ; Sonosorium” is a coined word combining sonus, meaning sound, and petroleum, meaning oil.

“Seven Wonders of the Grove,” an interactive exhibit inside Amu Plaza Kumamoto, which opened in 2021. KOO-KI planned and produced six content pieces to help visitors enjoy the three-dimensional garden, lush with water and greenery, even more. Rather than merely adding on to the space, the works were designed to harmonize with nature by making full use of real plants, trees, and rocks.

An enchanting projection mapping work created for Inukko Matsuri 2024, blending the mystical patterns of snow, causal sets, and “hare.” The festival is said to have originated from the myth of “Amano-Iwato,” beginning with a lively festival held by the villagers to lure Amaterasu out of the Iwato (another world), after which the rock door was opened. In addition, “dogs” have long been enshrined throughout Japan as a talisman against evil. “Hare” refers to an extraordinary state, such as a special day or a festival. Inspired by the origins of Inukko Matsuri, this work is a massive 50 x 23 m projection mapping that immerses viewers in a wondrous world created by the fusion of mystical protections and purification rites with the mysterious patterns of snow. It opens a portal connecting the real world and the otherworld, leading viewers into a “hare” dimension. Snow patterns like causal sets, where every event is infinitely connected by cause and effect, and fantastical scenery in which “hare” and “ke” flicker like a kaleidoscope unfold before the eyes. Bathed in spirits, mysterious protective rituals, light, and sound, the work explores a majestic visual landscape and an enchanting world.

Focusing on a “brain-pleasing experience,” this traditional neighborhood bathhouse, familiar to everyone, was dramatically updated through the power of creativity. With an array of devices and staging—from mind-blowing neon lights and illumination to riddles and underwater speakers—it offered a one-of-a-kind “new bathing experience of light and madness” that could only be enjoyed in this place. In the lobby, exclusive “Nojiru Sento” merchandise, as well as limited-edition drinks and food, were also available for purchase. Over the 10-day event period, a total of 4,457 people experienced it, and in the visitor survey, about 93.3% of respondents answered “Yes, I got brain juice!” to the question, “Did you get brain juice?” Following “Henkai Yokocho,” it concluded to great acclaim and overwhelming success.

Opening video used at the opening ceremony of Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai. The opening ceremony’s theme was “The Relay of Life.” The visuals were designed to work together with the circular walls of the venue and the mountain-shaped screen placed at the center. The video was created as a collage using a variety of methods, including live action, animation, CG, and volumetric scanning.

We directed and produced the opening of the Autobacs 50th anniversary ceremony held at Grand Cube Osaka in September 2024. MUGEN took part in the performance, which featured synchronization with visuals, lighting, and lasers.

At the Edo-Tokyo Museum in Tokyo, which reopened on March 31, 2026, we produced three works—“Traditional GRID,” “Moving Picture,” and “Another Sky”—as part of the permanent video projection program presented in the Edo-Tokyo Plaza on the third floor. Cultural resources held by the Edo-Tokyo Museum, such as ukiyo-e prints and maps, have been reimagined not as objects to be viewed, but as a spatial experience that envelops visitors. Approximately 100 works by ukiyo-e artists and painters, including Katsushika Hokusai and Tōshūsai Sharaku, unfold overhead as landscapes connected to modern-day Tokyo. Crossing the memories of cultural properties, architecture, and the city, this project seeks not only to “exhibit” history, but to give it form as an experience that visitors can physically অনুভ in the scale of this place. Projection screening schedule in the third-floor Edo-Tokyo Plaza (from May 2026) Times: 19:00, 19:20, 19:40

This work is a video piece that was exhibited and screened as part of an ambient projection-mapping presentation at the EXPO Hall “Shine Hat” and the Popup Stage East Outside at Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai. Taking as its motif the “EXPO 2025 Design System” IDs, affectionately known as “Komyaku” at Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, and with Kohta Hikichi, a representative member of the team that created it, serving as an advisor, we drew on the expertise in artificial-life ecological systems that HiRai has long been researching to create a real-time video simulation system and visuals. In producing the video, we referenced the design system’s history of being prototyped based on metaballs, and developed a real-time simulator in which the Komyaku behave as if they were alive while retaining the identity of the design itself. By using GPGPU to calculate the interactions among large numbers of Komyaku in real time, we built a system that can be flexibly expanded to support a wide range of possibilities, including interaction and the generation of one-of-a-kind videos. At the Popup Stage East Outside, we also took advantage of the architectural characteristics of a structure in which the projected image is interrupted by support columns, and created visuals that made it look as though each steel beam were packed full of Komyaku. We pursued video production that made the most of the characteristics of the projection surface. The name “Komyaku” naturally spread as a nickname referring to the IDs that make up the design system. Taking into account this derivative, fan-created cultural expansion, this work intentionally uses the term “Komyaku.”

At the newly opened immersive space “tem” in Phoenix Mall of Asia, a commercial facility in Bangalore, India, we created a 360° immersive theater experience themed around the Japanese seasons and spirituality. Reinterpreting Japan’s four seasons as a “circular structure,” we designed an immersive environment that leads visitors into a spiritual world beyond them. By using mirrored surfaces for both the floor and ceiling, the imagery extends infinitely in the vertical direction, while 360° panoramic visuals are projected onto the walls. The moment visitors step inside, they are enveloped in the changing seasons and the rhythm of light. A “mandala” where Japan’s view of the seasons and Indian philosophy intersect As the core of the presentation, we reconstructed the essence of Japanese culture—“a sense of unity with nature,” “the contrast between stillness and motion,” and “a worldview in which the seasons cycle endlessly”—into a “mandala structure,” which also resonates strongly with Indian thought, creating a universal spiritual world that transcends time and national borders.

This work is an immersive projection mapping piece that sets out from the wall of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, the heart of Tokyo, and takes the viewer on a journey through the “evolving city of Tokyo” from the perspective of a single person. Depicted through three-dimensional, geometric, and organic imagery, it portrays an individual as a living cell within Tokyo, merging into the core of Metabolist architecture and continually growing, dividing, and being rebuilt together with the city and its music.