キリン のどごし〈生〉 | 夢のドリーム4 カンフー篇 | 2013
He says what flashed through his mind was his whole life up to that point. / Kirin Nodogoshi Draft "Dream of Dreams 4: Kung Fu"
This is the best one. The one at the top of the list I look at whenever work gets so rough I think I can't go on. Mr. Ishida, his junior, Shoko Nakagawa, Jackie Chan, the production team, and above all the client who greenlit this whole thing—everyone involved here is the best.
The problem
This is the fourth installment of a campaign Kirin Nodogoshi Draft ran in 2013. Under the slogan "Let's make your dream come true together," the series collected dream requests from the public, actually made them happen, and turned the results into commercials. The first installment featured a wrestling match against Riki Choshu, the second had the brand forming a band with THE ALFEE, and the series kept moving people on social media with each new chapter. Out of roughly 50,000 entries, the dream chosen this time belonged to Kazuhiro Ishida, a 34-year-old company employee, who wished: "I want to become a kung fu action star!"
The insight
Think about it: you publicly ask for dreams (will enough people even apply?), you hold auditions (will an amateur audition actually work?), you cast the project (will Jackie even say yes?), you plan and shoot it (will it actually turn out watchable?)—every single step carries more risk than a normal commercial shoot. And yet somehow, through what must have been sheer passion from everyone involved, they pulled it off. I think this is a project everyone in this industry should look up to. Ishida had admired Jackie Chan's movies since childhood, started learning Wing Chun after graduating high school, and even founded his own kung fu club—a true die-hard fan. Before filming, he traveled to China and spent about a month preparing. Based on his vision, they even produced a short kung fu action film called "Dream Fist."
The idea
Based on the story and scenes Ishida had imagined, the team built a film set in Shanghai, packed with genuine kung fu action taught directly by Jackie Chan. Even the casting followed Ishida's dream to the letter: Jackie Chan played the master, Shoko Nakagawa played a fellow disciple, and Ishida's own junior from the kung fu club he founded during trade school—now a working stunt actor, Koto Yuki—joined as a co-star. The story follows the "Dream Fist Dojo" trying to reclaim its former glory against a rival dojo, and it even includes Ishida's specific requests like "I want to knock an enemy off a roof" and "I want to smash a table." Jackie Chan, who hadn't appeared in a Japanese commercial in six years, readily agreed, and on set he personally coached Ishida's acting and kept calling out to the whole crew to keep spirits high.
What happened
The ad aired nationwide starting June 4, 2013. A 180-second version and behind-the-scenes footage were also released, and people praised it, saying things like "this doesn't even feel like a regular commercial" and "I was so moved." At the press event, Shoko Nakagawa, a huge Jackie Chan fan herself, was overcome with emotion and cried, saying "Thanks to Mr. Ishida, the biggest dream of my life came true!"—she even suddenly bowed to the floor to thank him. After filming wrapped, Jackie Chan invited the entire Japanese crew out to eat, and he sat right next to Ishida himself—truly a dreamlike moment. Ishida later said, "I was even more nervous than during the shoot... I don't even remember what the food tasted like."
Afterthought
Watching something like this makes it feel embarrassing to complain about the work in front of you. Time to get back to it today too.
