hedlund moved on to japanese publisher koei in 1990, which had established a north american subsidiary, koei corporation, in california two years earlier. working at koei both in northern california and japan, he was the lead designer for and/or originated a number of games including "liberty or death", "", "gemfire" and "saiyuki: journey west". in 1995, shortly after hedlund left the company, the subsidiary ceased its game development efforts.