Merry Peaksmas 2025 – Twin Peaks in Japan

As the first light of Christmas morning shines through the trees outside my window, I’m looking back at Peaksmas 2025, a series of articles from fellow Twin Peaks Blog author and long-time fan Dugpa and me about Twin Peaks in Japan. In case you missed the articles, here is a summary of stories we covered with special attention given to the David Lynch directed Georgia Coffee commercials from early 1993.

THE MYSTERY OF GEORGIA | PART 1 – COFFEE IN A CAN

The catalyst for this year’s Peaksmas celebration began with an article Dugpa wrote in October about a Twin Peaks-themed Georgia Coffee promotion in 1993. David Lynch was approached by Coca-Cola Japan to produce a string of commercials and a limited run of Georgia Coffee cans bearing characters, locations, clues, and catch phrases from the limited commercial series.

They produced 24 special edition Georgia Coffee cans for the promotion, which were distributed across four of their Coffee Drink product lines. Each line featured a theme tied to its respective television commercials created by David Lynch.

Thanks to Nz (Enuzetto), a drink collector from Japan who maintains an amazing archive and Coca-Cola Can Museum, Dugpa identified and translated text from 23 out of the 24 cans. Fellow Twin Peaks fan and Georgia Coffee collector Frank Turner also provided higher resolution images of cans from his collection. From an archivist perspective, this is an invaluable article about such a unique promotion from the early days of Twin Peaks.

THE MYSTERY OF GEORGIA | PART 2 – THE MARKETING CAMPAIGN

Dugpa returned on December 17 to properly kick-off Peaksmas 2025 with an in-depth look at the Twin Peaks-themed Georgia Coffee marketing campaign. During the week of September 21, 1992, just weeks after the North American premiere of Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, David Lynch began filming the series of Georgia Coffee commercials in Los Angeles, California.

These commercials were shot by Ron Garcia and produced by Monty Montgomery. Each commercial was done in Lynch’s signature style leaning heavily on offbeat humor with a tinge of the ever-present tension between charm and dread. One of the greatest things to come of this was some of the most unique, fun and exciting marketing materials that were distributed throughout Japan.

Dugpa cataloged (and translated) the marketing materials including posters, point of purchase displays, magazine ads, video rental cards, mugs, clothing and key chains. This comprehensive listing is the first of its kind to document the “The Mystery of G” storyline for the Georgia Coffee commercials.

TWIN PEAKS STICKERS FROM JAPAN BY GENDAI

I branched off into some Japanese ephemera from the early 1990s including a one-sheet containing Twin Peaks-themed stickers. Produced by Gendai for the Japanese market, I acquired the stickers via an auction that included the 1992 Japanese program for Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me.

Twenty-one different stickers were included on the one-sheet with iconography and phrases from David Lynch and Mark Frost’s wonderful and strange show. Several of the drawings were recycled from the 1991 book, “Welcome to Twin Peaks: Access Guide to the Town.”

THE MYSTERY OF GEORGIA | PART 3 – THE VON SENGER WAIBEL CAR

The next day, I returned to the Georgia Coffee commercials with an in-depth look at the Von Senger Waibel car briefly seen in two commercials. The emerald green car belonged to Asami, who was Detective Ken Saito’s (Taka Higuchi) missing girlfriend.

In “Cherry Pie,” the car was last seen parked at Big Ed’s Gas Farm with 15 red Snooker balls (symbolizing cherry pie) placed on the driver’s seat. Following extensive research, it was discovered that Twin Peaks producer Monty Montgomery (who later played The Cowboy in David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive) once owned the vehicle.

The vehicle was a 1948 VW Special Sport Cabriolet. The made up name “Von Senger Weibel” was a nod to Swiss Coachbuilder and one of the creators of the early Porsche 356, Hans Waibel, and Ruprecht von Senger, who financed and established early European Porsche dealerships in the 1940s and 50s.

Monty acquired the car around 1990 and had it restored by  Hill & Vaughn of Los Angeles, California. Two years later, he showed the car at the 42nd Concours D’Elegance held on August 23, 1992 at The Lodge at Pebble Beach only weeks before production began on the Georgia Coffee commercials.

The car was later sold in the mid-1990s and changed hands a few times, including a brief stint at the former Imperial Palace casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. Today, the repainted vehicle is located in Argentina.

TWIN PEAKS IN ‘ROADSHOW’ MAGAZINE FROM JAPAN, JUNE 1992

Peaksmas 2025 continued with a look at Roadshow Magazine from June 1992 featuring Kyle MacLachlan on the cover. This Japanese publication focuses on films, actors and pop culture, often featuring stunning covers and content about Hollywood and Japanese cinema. It was published in late April, in advance of the May 16, 1992 release of Lynch’s Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me.

The magazine contained a two-page preview of the film with several publicity photos by the late on-set photographer Lorey Sebastian.

Elsewhere, the magazine had an interview with Sheryl Lee with stunning photography by Tomoaki Sakata. The article details Sheryl Lee’s itinerary during her March 1992 visit to Japan, something I had not seen before researching the story.

TWIN PEAKS IN DVD COLLECTION BOOKLET FROM PARAMOUNT JAPAN IN OCT.-NOV. 2007

On Dec. 21, I continued Peaksmas with a look at a DVD Collection Booklet produced by Paramount Japan for October – November 2007. Twin Peaks landed on the cover of this free booklet with the iconic image of Laura Palmer wrapped in plastic from the Blue Pine Lodge’s rocky beach. The two-page spread contains information about four different home media options for Japanese audiences including details about the Definitive Gold Box set which was released on Nov. 9, 2007.

BEYOND KEN SAITO: DISCOVERING TAKANORI HIGUCHI

Dugpa picked up the Georgia Coffee commercial content with a profile on Japanese actor Takanori Higuchi who played Detective Ken Saito – the earnest Tokyo investigator who arrived in Twin Peaks searching for his missing fiancée, Asami. Outside of Twin Peaks, Higuchi is a major figure in Japanese genre entertainment, an international character actor, a teacher of the craft, and today, an active creative force developing new independent projects that connect with his passion for the arts.

One of Higuchi’s most exciting current projects is HARU, a new Japanese action-fantasy film being developed through Kickstarter. Framed as a mythic sword tale rather than a conventional action movie, HARU follows a fierce swordswoman bound by an ancient curse—one rooted in cycles of fate, reincarnation, and spiritual consequence.

Through Kickstarter, Higuchi and the creative team are inviting fans to help bring this independent vision to life. Especially exciting for Twin Peaks Fans is the inclusion of never before seen behind the scenes Georgia Coffee artifacts taken from Taka’s personal collection.

Details will be shared in February at a special sneak preview during an exclusive “Twin Peaks Japan” panel Dugpa and I will be facilitating at the upcoming Real Twin Peaks Days, Feb. 20-22, 2026 in Snoqualmie Valley, Washington.

Be sure to follow Taka on X @takahiguchi11 or on Instagram @takahiguchi11 to find out how to participate directly in a culturally rooted fantasy project that values atmosphere, myth, and emotional depth as much as action.

THE MYSTERY OF GEORGIA | PART 4 – ORAL HISTORY AND A MISSING PIECE

For the fourth part in the Georgia Coffee commercial series, Dugpa compiled an oral history about the production of these David Lynch-directed mini-episodes.

At the Imperial Hotel in Hibiya, Tokyo on January 18, 1993, Coca-Cola Japan Co., Ltd. held a press conference to announce the production of a series Twin Peaks-themed commercials for their new Georgia Coffee drink campaign.

The campaign was aimed at solidifying and further developing the position of the Georgia brand, which “accounts for approximately 40% of sales amid intensifying competition for market share in canned coffee, and is an unprecedentedly bold and large-scale campaign.”  The first chapter aired at 6:59:30 p.m. on January 20, 1993 on multiple television stations.

Dugpa spoke with Takanori who played Detective Saito during a trip to Japan in November 2025.

“I like Italian coffee,” recalled Haguchi. “Georgia Coffee tastes a little too sweet for me. Very sweet. But, you know, there is a story. On the set, I drink for real. Kyle is always <spits out on the ground>. The commercial executives were there, right… so I cannot spit out. So I drank so much… so much Georgia at that time. <laughs>”

During his research, Dugpa also uncovered another Missing Piece – there may be a fifth Georgia Coffee commercial that included a scene between Shelly Johnson, Bobby Briggs (Dana Ashbrook) and a “Heidi-like” character at the Double R Diner.

Dana Ashbrook: I don’t even know the last time I saw it, maybe ten years ago! I have no idea, I don’t know what was going on there. I know that the scene we shot in the Diner which was a repeat of the scene in the pilot we had shot for a Japanese coffee commercial, the German’s are always on time thing, there were two Japanese actors in the same scene as well it was really funny.

Who knows if we will ever see that commercial or if it really even exists. More than three decades later, Twin Peaks still has mysteries to solve.

THE PRINCE OF STARS TRAVELS THROUGH TOKYO: KYLE MACLACHLAN’S VISIT TO JAPAN IN FEB. 1992

On Christmas Eve, this year’s week-long “Peaksmas” celebration concluded with an incredible account of Kyle MacLachlan’s visit to Japan from February 22-27, 1992. Translated from an article found in the 1992 Japanese publication “Deluxe Color Cine Album 52,” this in-depth story includes photos and extensive details about the marketing trip for Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me.

With fan recollections and insights, this article becomes a love letter to the Internet’s dad. One of my favorite items is a fan sketch of the various outfits MacLachlan wore during his visit.

Dugpa and I wish you the happiest of holidays and a joyful New Year filled with cherry pie, doughnuts and lots of damn, fine coffee. We hope to see you in the trees at the Real Twin Peaks event in Snoqualmie, Washington this February. It’s something you won’t want to miss!