Later this month, Stratford couple Craig and Koi Thompson of Ballinran Entertainment will join a Team Canada trade mission to Osaka and Tokyo, Japan, to forge new creative partnerships and bring new technologies back to Canada.

Under the leadership of the Canadian Minister for Small Business, Export Promotion and International Trade Mary Ng, the October 29-November 2 trade mission is designed to build economic bridges between Canada and one of its key trading partners in the Indo-Pacific region.

The Thompsons, who have taken part in previous Canadian trade missions including one to China in 2018, have a long history in Asia. Ballinran Entertainment has filmed a number of documentaries in China and has an office in Beijing. Koi Thompson is Chinese but lived in Japan for 17 years, where she attended university and pursued a career in IT marketing at one of Japan’s largest technology companies.

“Because they knew about the work we do in Asia and the fact that we are a married couple who speak Japanese, Chinese and English… we made the positive decision to join,” said Craig Thompson. “…It is a cross-sector journey involving agri-food, technology and (representatives from) many other sectors. Canada is realigning its international trade partnerships with the Indo-Pacific. Japan is a strong economy and Canada needs Japan as an important trading partner. Obviously there are challenges with other regions of the world and Japan has always been a good friend of Canada.”

“Japan is like my second hometown,” Koi Thompson added. “…I lived there for 17 years; I’ve been doing my master’s (degree) for eight years and working for almost ten years. It’s not just the language I know. I feel like I really understand the Japanese way of thinking. … I hope that understanding … will be like a bridge (between the Canadian and Japanese partners).”

For their part, the Thompsons will meet with representatives from Japan’s film and television industries to discuss potential collaborations on documentary projects, as well as representatives from Japan’s robust virtual and augmented technology sectors to discuss the application of these technologies in billboards and other outdoor marketing here in Canada.

“We are looking for the rights to bring this technology to Canada,” Koi Thompson added.

“One of the main benefits of a trade mission is that you travel with a senior government minister. “It gives us a level of credibility and door-opening power that we wouldn’t get if Koi and I just went it alone,” said Craig Thompson. “We are with the Chief Minister of International Trade, who will then give a lot of credit to all the meetings we hold because everyone knows that we were chosen for this trade mission because we have met certain requirements and are a good company. “This was recommended by the Canadian government.”