[Dialogue] Dai Tamesue × Keiichi Higuchi Part 1: Gaining Random Ideas Through the Body

Can sports power contribute to solving various societal challenges? Keiichi Higuchi, Communication Design Director at Dentsu Inc. CDC, welcomed Dai Tamesue—a former professional track and field athlete now active as a coach, commentator, and more—to discuss this potential.

[Part 1] Gaining Random Ideas Through the Body

 

<The Limits of Solving Medical Problems with Medicine Alone>

Higuchi: It all started about a year ago when we collaborated on a sports-related business project. During our meetings, you introduced me to a different perspective on sports. I found many of your insights incredibly thought-provoking for solving corporate and societal challenges—the very work we do. That's why I wanted to have a deeper conversation with you. Thank you for joining us today.

Tamesue: Thank you for having me.

Higuchi: One example that changed my view of sports was hearing how medical costs were cut in half when Kashima Antlers players started doing daily exercises with elderly residents in Kashima Town. That's when I realized this was a case where sports solved a medical challenge.
I believe you also mentioned something about educational challenges, right?

Tamesue: You mean the karuta card game. The mechanism behind a child losing control of themselves—what we call "snapping"—is similar to the body's instantaneous reaction when trying to grab a karuta card. That's why karuta is used as training for self-control. It's about whether you can consciously stop that instant reaction to grab the card—essentially, training your mind to judge and halt the body's automatic movement.

Higuchi: Playing karuta involves using your body, so in a way, it has elements of sport. I find it really interesting that instead of trying to solve the psychological problem of being prone to losing control solely through psychological approaches, they're approaching it from a different angle by going through the body first. I think there are limits to solving medical problems solely with medicine or educational problems solely with education. Focusing on the physicality of sport as an approach felt very fresh.

Tametsu: While neuroscience and cognitive psychology study how physicality affects the mind and brain, my interest in this area began because I realized it's better not to overthink the details mentally when competing.

For example, in our world of athletes, this fable is often told: An ant and a centipede were walking. The ant said to the centipede, "How do you manage to move so many legs so skillfully?" The moment the centipede heard this, it became overly conscious of its legs, lost its balance, and fell over.

This shows how awareness affects the body, but the reverse is also true. For instance, research suggests reading manga while holding chopsticks in your mouth, lifting the corners of your lips, can increase perceived enjoyment by about 20%. It's a case of both "laughing because it's fun" and "feeling happier because you're smiling."

Higuchi: So the body and mind, the body and head, influence each other, don't they?

Tametsu: They're inseparable, aren't they? Since I started paying attention to this, I've come to think sports hold even more potential. Like reflecting the effects and impacts of sports and physicality into various fields that seem unrelated at first glance.

Higuchi: I agree. If you view sports narrowly, it becomes just about winning and losing. But if you see it more broadly—as a tool for controlling emotions, or as a mechanism that brings people together through its game-like nature—the horizon suddenly opens up. If you perceive sports as a collective body of wisdom gained through physical movement, your perspective changes dramatically.

<Intuition and inspiration cultivated through physicality aid creativity>

Higuchi: I don't know if there's a term like " ," but I feel the wisdom of sports—which seeks to govern the mind and intellect through the body—should really be systematized more. Building on that, if it's applied to various fields like the medical and educational issues mentioned earlier, I believe it could generate unprecedented solutions to societal challenges.

Tamesue: I see, that makes sense. Like the centipede example earlier, the body doesn't move based on conscious thought, so perhaps because it's hard to explain logically, people don't see it as something that can be systematized. It's true that sports are governed by intuition and the unconscious realm, but actually, what that intuition teaches us is profound.

I don't think intuition or flashes of insight are mere whims. They're answers that emerge through life's diverse experiences, even if they can't yet be articulated. Rather than logical thinking, it's raw, physical experiences—touching, feeling, experiencing—that underpin that intuition. So, being mindful of physicality might also be a way to cultivate intuition and insight.

Higuchi: That's right. Considering corporate activities in light of this, many companies today are searching for ideas about what products or services to create next. Approaching this from the perspective of the body might offer a way to support them.

Tamese: Yes. I once heard researchers and designers discuss the theme of "comfortable driving." They said that the sensation of comfort belongs to the realm of the body and sensibility, so no matter how much technology advances, robots can't solve it.

Sports, or perhaps art and other cultural activities too—the way they sharpen the body and the five senses is something machines simply can't replicate. It makes me wonder if physicality might be the last sanctuary humans possess that robots can't penetrate.

Higuchi: That's true. Fields like sensory engineering have gained attention, but perhaps by connecting and systematizing them to the underlying physicality, we could open up entirely new domains.

It's not just about the internal workings of each individual. When we consider how to apply the wisdom inherent in sports to corporate activities, I don't think it's limited to traditional marketing efforts. For instance, when it comes to building truly effective organizations or strong teams, that wisdom holds immense power. More than that, sports already possess a methodology for designing mechanisms to motivate people.

Tamura: I see, that's right.

Higuchi: Many companies today are struggling with strategies to improve employee well-being, job satisfaction, and higher motivation levels. I believe the motivation design methods used in sports could be a useful approach here. Based on the fact that sports already possess such methodologies, I think it's possible for the relationship between business and sports to move to a whole new level.

(To be continued)

Interview Location: BiCE TOKYO