screen-shot-2016-12-21-at-4-10-42-pm

America tries a little “Love Dance diplomacy” for Christmas.

The U.S. Embassy in Tokyo has just released a new video and it’s not as serious as you may expect. U.S. Ambassador Caroline Kennedy and her fellow staffers have found some time to spread a little Christmas cheer and goodwill to the people of Japan by dancing to the recently popular Koi Dance (koi meaning love in Japanese) made famous by a Japanese drama series.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xuXlpvWw1I

Kennedy (who is sporting a Santa suit) is accompanied in her merry jig by a cast of U.S. diplomatic staff members from the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo, the U.S. Consulate in Nagoya and Fukuoka, and the U.S. Consulate General facilities in Osaka, Naha, and Sapporo.

▼ Staff at the U.S. Consulate Fukuoka doing the Koi Dance

screen-shot-2016-12-21-at-4-11-30-pm

▼ One guy at the U.S. Consulate in Nagoya also decided to have a go.

screen-shot-2016-12-21-at-4-12-24-pm

The Koi Dance comes from the “Koi” song that was made famous by the Japanese drama series Nigeru wa Haji da ga Yaku ni Tatsu, which translates to Running Away is Shameful but Helpful, but goes by the English title, We Married as a Job! The moves were choreographed by MIKIKO, creator of dance routines for popular Japanese musical acts such as Perfume and Babymetal.

Online comments have included:

“If Trump does this I will donate 30,000 Big Mac burgers.”
“Thank God it wasn’t PPAP”
“This is awesome! This kind of surprise is great!”
“Let’s transcend boundaries!”
“This was one of my small dreams, to see a foreigner dance the Koi Dance! Thank you!”

The Koi Dance has generated wide spread attention with celebrities trying out the dance themselves all over Japan including Japan’s most popular male figure skater Yuzuru Hanyu.

What do you think of US Ambassador Caroline Kennedy’s dance effort?

Source: Hachima Kikou, YouTube/US Embassy Tokyo
Images: YouTube/US Embassy Tokyo