Editor-in-Chief Hayashi of Daily Portal Z Proposes: "Grow Through Fantasy"

The Open Innovation Lab (InnoLab), the R&D organization of Dentsu Inc. International Information Services (ISID), creates prototypes using cutting-edge technology.
Following the previous "TIGER" project, Yuji Hayashi, Editor-in-Chief of Daily Portal Z, freely offers suggestions for improvements and presentation methods for InnoLab's projects. This time, he presented "EverySpo!", a project aiming to turn the city into a playground, to Kazuhisa Nozaki and Motoki Abe of InnoLab.

Team division unconstrained by local ties

Abe: This time, I brought along Nozaki, who oversees the technical side at Inolab.

Nozaki: The project we'd like to improve this time is "Every Sport!". Its concept is "Let's turn the city into a playground!".

Hayashi: I intend to approach this with strong determination once again.

Abe: It suddenly says "Fantasy!" here.

Hayashi: Ultimately, we concluded it was fantasy.

Nozaki: Sorry, I'm not quite following...

Hayashi: (firmly) Let me explain. After reviewing various materials, I saw potential in the team competition aspect.

Nozaki: That's a good point. Honestly, we often struggle with team assignments.

Hayashi: In sports, team divisions are always based on nationality, region, or local ties, right? I thought we could build teams based on hobbies or preferences—things beyond local ties.

Nozaki: I see. Diversity-based.

Hayashi: Exactly. For example, something like this.

Hayashi: People who seem like strangers, but you divide them based on whether they like smooth red bean paste or chunky red bean paste.

Nozaki: Diversity example, and suddenly it's about red bean paste?!

Hayashi: I actually made this as a hobby.

Nozaki: Oh, really. It says TUBUAN (chunky bean paste) and KOSHIAN (smooth bean paste).

Hayashi: That's why it takes so long to make these slides.

Abe: I can totally tell you put time into this (laughs).

Hayashi: Once at a wagashi shop, a customer asked, "Is this koshian? Or tsubuan?" When told it was koshian, they just said, "Oh, well then, never mind!" and left. That really showed how strong their preferences are.

Nozaki: Some people prefer koshian for dorayaki but tsubuan for taiyaki. The crust texture is different, so quite a few people are particular about that.

Hayashi: Beyond smooth and chunky bean paste, you can also categorize people by attributes like whether they called their teacher "Mom" in school or not, or if their alma mater was co-ed or all-boys. By the way, where did you two go to school?

Abe: Mine was co-ed.

Nozaki: Boys' school.

Tsukiyama: I went to an all-girls school.

Hayashi: Huh?

Abe: This is Tsukiyama from the project team. I thought we could get some improvement suggestions from a female perspective.

Hayashi: I see. Coed, all-boys, and all-girls—our team is perfectly divided.

Yakitori: sauce or salt?

Hayashi: Other attributes could also form teams like this:

Hayashi: Things like having similar names or birthdays can instantly create a sense of closeness. Also, the sauce vs. salt debate always sparks arguments. And then there's something like Every Sport!

Abe: Hold on a second. Aren't we going to mention the photo on the right?

Hayashi: Oh, you're curious about the photo on the right?

Nozaki: Yes.

Hayashi: I just filled in the empty space.

Abe: Then let's ignore the photo on the right... Hayashi, are you a sauce person? Or a salt person?

Hayashi: I'm a sauce person. Surprisingly, I'm in the minority these days.

Tsukiyama: Really? I'm sauce too.

Nozaki: I'm basically salt, but sometimes sauce, I guess.

Tsukiyama: Sounds like a weather forecast (laughs).

Nozaki: For example, if they say it's a secret sauce passed down for 50 years, I'll go for the sauce.

Hayashi: What about you, Abe-san?

Abe: I'm a sauce person too. But if everyone else says sauce, I might go with salt.

Hayashi: There are people like that, right?

Abe: I guess I want to say we're not just a sauce-only group.

Hayashi: Like this, categorizing by attributes really gets the conversation going, doesn't it?

Tsukiyama: Definitely.

Introducing Boat Match

Hayashi: So, how do we actually divide people by preferences or attributes?

Nozaki: That's the key point.

Abe: Currently, team assignments seem to be decided on our side, right?

Nozaki: That's right. The initial proof-of-concept model generated teams randomly. We call that team generation engine, along with the rest, the EverySport! Engine.

Hayashi: How does that engine handle team allocation?

Nozaki: It divides people into teams fairly, grouping those with similar athletic abilities.

Hayashi: So there's an initial fitness test?

Nozaki: Yes. Over a period of about a week, we measure the exercise intensity every hour. We then distribute people who can't run much and those who can run well across each team in a balanced way, aiming to make the teams' strengths similar.

Tsukiyama: What's your approach to team division, Hayashi?

Hayashi: Before elections, there's a web service called "Boat Match" that tells you which political party suits you. I wonder if we could do something like that for more everyday choices. Like choosing "sauce or soy sauce on your fried egg" or "smooth or chunky red bean paste."

Hayashi: If someone matches all 10 preferences in Boat Match, they might as well be twins.

Abe: A Boat Match that reunites long-lost twins (laughs).

Nozaki: Our current engine only views communication activation through the sports aspect. So, incorporating elements like your proposal feels like it could really boost communication.

Hayashi: "Go, sauce team! Don't lose to the salt team!"

Nozaki: Like, "Let's hit up a yakitori place after practice!"

Hayashi: Ordering yakitori at the bar and everyone getting the sauce version—that's when you finally understand why you were chosen.

Abe: Discovering what we have in common after gathering is really interesting.

Tsukiyama: But isn't there a question on the boat match questionnaire asking "Yakitori: sauce or salt?"

Hayashi: Totally obvious, huh? (laughs)

Even people who act similarly

Hayashi: I think you can do the same thing with actions. Like, just automatically generate teams based on people who posted they had curry for lunch today on social media.

Abe: Curry now.

Hayashi: Sounds like something you'd see in a Hollywood movie.

Nozaki: Was there one? A story where people who ate curry gather?

Hayashi: Like The Avengers, right? Definitely that kind of movie?

Tsukiyama: I think it's totally different (laughs).

Hayashi: Anyway, you can form teams based on actions like this. And since they're wearing activity trackers, you can identify people who always wake up at 7:14 AM, for example. Teams can be generated from activity logs regardless of location.

Hayashi: Like that colleague from another department you always see in the restroom but don't know their name.

Abe: Yeah, there are people like that.

Hayashi: That's probably because our bladder cycles match. And then there's the person I always see at the station bike parking lot every morning. That one gives me a little flutter.

Abe: True. And I actually found myself wanting to be on a team with that person.

Hayashi: Since our routines match, we'd probably get along great.

Nozaki: While maintaining that perfect distance.

Hayashi: It'd be great if people working late could connect. Like silently compiling a list of those still at their desks around 10 PM.

Abe: That'd be like a "Team Corporate Slaves" division.

Hayashi: Team Corporate Slaves... sounds super weak.

Abe: They'd just say "Sorry, work came up" and leave.

Nozaki: Everyone's sleep-deprived and exhausted.

Hayashi: Even if they gather, everyone's on work calls or something.

Tsukiyama: But the sense of solidarity seems strong.

Hayashi: Solidarity as corporate slaves. Everyone calls each other "our company," "your company."

The fantasy that Merkel might be on the other side of the monitor.

Hayashi: If you take this idea to its extreme, you could even team up with people from the past.

N ozaki, Abe, Tsukiyama: ?

Hayashi: Like someone who ate Neapolitan spaghetti eight times a week, was born in Itabashi, and is a Pisces. That person doesn't exist now, but they did 30 years ago.

Nozaki, Abe, Tsukiyama: ...

Hayashi: Huh? Aren't you all staring blankly again?

Nozaki: Um, specifically, what kind of battle would you have when teaming up with someone from the past?

Hayashi: I guess we'd log their past data and feed it out bit by bit like a bot. Different years, but synchronized by month and day.

Tsukiyama: I see. That makes sense. Like, say, an athlete from the past. You could compete with them on things like training volume, even if you weren't living in the same era!

Hayashi: I recently learned that the novel "Around the World in Eighty Days" was originally serialized in a newspaper, matching the dates. The March 23rd paper had the March 23rd travelogue. Everyone believed it was real, and apparently there were offers like, "Please use our ship!" But the author, Jules Verne, was writing it all from home the whole time.

Tsukiyama: Even with things from the past or fictional, if they're synchronized with today's date, it suddenly feels real, doesn't it?

Nozaki: The moment you realize you're teaming up with someone from the past, it feels incredibly fantastical, doesn't it?

Hayashi: See? Fantasy!

Nozaki: Ah, so that's why it's fantasy!

Hayashi: The fantasy that somewhere, someone understands you. And the fantasy that the person on the other side of the screen might be Merkel.

Abe: Merkel just popped up out of nowhere.

Hayashi: I think it's funny when you read a completely unrelated account thinking it's Merkel. Like, "Merkel's eating udon today," or something.

Nozaki: You'd intentionally create that ?

Hayashi: I think you could base it on Merkel's official records, like her overseas visits. "Today's the Russia visit, so I'm looking forward to piroshki on the way back!"

Tsukiyama: That sounds like stealth marketing.

Hayashi: True. But who benefits from that?

Nozaki: But imagining someone you're interested in is on the other side of the screen could really energize the team.

Will the EverySpo! Fantasy Engine be adopted?

Abe: We're currently brainstorming various projects using EverySport!, but team division is proving tricky.

Nozaki: I've been struggling with that since last week.

Abe: Starting the project planning from the point of "What kind of teams would make the competition interesting?" would definitely get people to participate.

Nozaki: For future team assignments, boosting communication will be a key point.

Abe: That's actually part of why we designed EverySport! as a team-based game in the first place.

Tsukiyama: Sports apps are often developed in places like the US. Since America is an individualistic country, there's a mentality of tracking and pushing yourself alone. Many Japanese people have a mindset like "safety in numbers." That's part of why we ended up with team-based events.

Nozaki: Continuing to exercise stoically alone is incredibly tough. You need that communication—like, "Wanna meet up today?" or "Gonna go for a run?" That kind of confirmation is necessary.

Hayashi: Hey! Don't leave me out!

Nozaki: Sorry! Your suggestion was so spot-on we got carried away talking among ourselves (laughs).

Hayashi: So this Fantasy! idea is getting adopted?

Nozaki: Let me take that back and...

Tsukiyama: We'll carefully consider it.

(To be continued)