As the daughter of Japanese pop stars and a beauty ambassador for fashion houses Bulgari and Chanel, Japanese starlet Koki is used to being in the public eye in her home country.
However, it is her part in a small-budget movie shot in Scotland alongside TV big hitter Jack Lowden that could see her profile grow among Western audiences.
The film is set in England in the 1790s, and follows a young and determined Japanese woman called Tornado, played by Koki, who accompanies her father and his traveling puppet show.
The two encounter the Sugarman gang who brutally murder her father, leading Tornado to vow vengeance over her father’s death.
Lowden plays Little Sugar – a member of a gang of ruthless criminals led by his on-screen father Sugarman, played by Academy Award-winner Tim Roth.
Despite being set in England, the movie – directed by Scottish director John Maclean – was filmed in Edinburgh during the decidedly chilly month of January last year.
While Koki, whose real name is Mitsuki Kimura, regularly posts photos from glitzy events in Japan, her time in Scotland served up more challenging conditions.
Gone were the designer clothes, jewel-encrusted accessories and lavish venues that regularly feature on her social media profiles.
Koki is a singer, actress and model from Japan with pop star parents
Koki will star alongside Scots actor Jack Lowden in upcoming film Tornado
Tornado, which also stars Pulp Fiction’s Tim Roth, was filmed in Scotland
Instead, she was pictured wrapped up in a long winter coat and wellies as she filmed in a muddy field on the slopes of the Pentland hills near Edinburgh.
Even Scots actor Lowden, who is well used to the damp and cold conditions of a Scottish winter, described the temperatures during filming as ‘Baltic’.
But there was no sign of anything other than unbridled enthusiasm from Koki, who was all smiles in photos taken during the damp days of shooting in and around Edinburgh.
Speaking to Vogue Hong Kong in November, she even put a positive spin on the weather during her time in Scotland.
She said: ‘We shot it in Edinburgh during winter which had a very beautiful and mysterious ambience.
‘It was my first time doing action and sword-fighting so I thought it would be a wonderful opportunity to try and challenge myself.’
The film will have its premiere at the Glasgow Film Festival this year, raising the prospect that Lowden will attend with his Hollywood star wife Saoirse Ronan after they made similar appearances together for their movie The Outrun last year.
Koki boasts an impressive social media following has worked with a slew of fashion houses
Koki’s involvement in the project could help with the movie’s appeal in Japan where she has an impressive public profile.
At present she has an impressive 3.5 million followers on Instagram – dwarfing Lowden’s 172,000 fans on the site or Roth’s 45,500.
Her only other movie credentials to date were in last year’s romantic drama Touch by Icelandic director Baltasar Kormákur and the lead part in 2022 Japanese horror Ox-Head Village.
As well as being a beauty ambassador for Chanel and Bulgari in her home country, the 21-year-old star is the daughter of two of Japan’s pop idols.
Her mother Shizuka Kudo is a singer while her father Takuya Kimura is an actor and former member of J-pop boy band SMAP.
She launched her career as a model when she was named Bulgari’s first Japanese and youngest ambassador in 2018, and has worked with brands including Chanel, Valentino, Coach, Louis Vuitton and Estée Lauder.
In an interview last year, Koki said: ‘Being able to work with different brands from different countries really taught me a lot about culture, and also the different aspects of fashion — like how fashion can be inspirational, and how fashion can really make people feel emotions and give people confidence.
‘So it has a really vast and strong influence. Fashion is something that I really am passionate about.’
She has also spoken about the influence her parents and their own careers have had on her.
She said: ‘Since I was small, watching my dad act and perform, I was always really interested in acting.
‘I had this feeling that “Oh, I want to become like him,” and want to be able to have the audience think in certain ways or feel this certain emotion or message. I think watching my dad perform and act had a huge impact on me.’
