Saga Prefecture lies in the northwest corner of Japan’s island of Kyushu. This past week, in an unusual attempt at self-promotion, the Saga Prefectural Office uploaded a video of hundreds of workers from its various divisions happily dancing to the new AKB48 single, Koi Suru Fortune Cookie (Love Fortune Cookie). With more than 480,000 views on YouTube so far, the up-beat video certainly beats a boring old poster campaign!
Every Sunday night, Fuji Television airs a program called AKB Eizou (Video) Center. For one of the show’s primary segments, they invite viewers to submit their own videos in accordance with a given theme for a chance at being aired on TV. Select submissions are not only given a two-minute snippet of televised fame, the full clip is also added to AKB48’s official YouTube channel!
Saga Prefecture submitted their dancing music video both as a fun side-project and to give the people of Japan a happy introduction to all of the different departments managed by their government. Luckily for them, the charming dance clip made the cut, and now appears on AKB48’s official channel.
Approximately 60 prefectural departments and their associated staff members are featured in the three-and-a-half-minute video. Bright-eyed workers both young and old wear their biggest smiles as they dance in sync to the up-beat pop song. Even the prefecture’s mascot characters gathered together for the recording, and the prefectural governor in particular displays a great deal of excitement for the song and dance.
▼ In case it wasn’t obvious, the governor is the man in the middle.
So, if you’re looking for a nice little pick-me-up as we struggle towards the end of the working week, Saga Prefecture’s rendition of Koi Suru Fortune Cookie will certainly raise your spirits, while also giving you a well-rounded sampling of the many kinds of people who keep Japan running smoothly. Enjoy!
▼ Watch the video here or on AKB48’s official YouTube channel!
▼ In case you can’t watch the video right away, here’s a few stills from the merry music video.
Source: Net Lab (Japanese)
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