Athlete Brains: Dai Tamesue's "Fluid Pacing" vol.21

A serial interview column where Mr. Dai Tamesue freely discusses "things on his mind right now." The only set theme is "What is autonomy? What is tolerance?" Mr. Tamesue shares his thoughts on various "things on his mind" in response to the mysterious "interviewer's" unexpected prompts. Well now. What kind of stories will come out this time...? Stay tuned.

──Under the theme of "Autonomy and Tolerance," this time we've set an even more bizarre theme than before: "What is Transparency?" I'm truly sorry to keep asking you to engage with such strange themes each time.

Tamesue: Thank you for having me. I'm not really good at interviews where I'm told to "talk freely about anything." When I'm given some kind of theme, it sparks my inspiration, you know...

──Thank you. The inspiration came from the Olympics. You often hear phrases like "transparent performance" or "transparent acting," right? But what exactly is transparency? I thought this was a theme I really wanted to explore with you, Tamesue-san.

Tamesue: I'm still not quite sure what you're getting at with this question (laughs).

──I'll get back to that later, but "transparency" or "transparency levels" in politics or corporate management are quantitative, right? They can be expressed numerically. Like openly disclosing accurate sales figures at a shareholders' meeting without hiding anything. In contrast, "transparency" is qualitative. It can't be expressed numerically.

Tamematsu: I see.

──There's the Shimanto River in Shikoku, right? It's a beautiful river called "Japan's Last Clear Stream." Given that image of "the last clear stream," you'd naturally imagine it must have transparency measurements that leave others in the dust, wouldn't you? But if we're just talking numbers, I think there might be other rivers with "higher transparency" than the Shimanto.

Tamesue: That's an interesting point. I'm starting to see where this interview is headed.

──For example, when discussing a woman's charm. Or when praising cooking. Fashion, jewelry, politics, business... We seek "transparency," right? Of course, this applies to athletes' performances too. Hold on, I'd like to ask about each theme individually, but first—apologies for the usual abruptness—what exactly is the essence of "transparency"?

Tamura: Here we go (laughs). In the world of sports, it's said that people who possess "innocence" are strong. Whether it's baseball or soccer, legendary superstars have a certain "innocence" about them, don't they? It's like they're free of malice, or free of ulterior motives. It's not about trying to crush their opponents or score points for themselves. It's more like, "I'm doing this simply because I want to." I'm not sure if that explains "transparency," though.

──Yeah, I totally get it.

Tamemasu: In terms of "cooking," for example, with soup, I think something like "the absence of impurities" is recognized as "transparency."

──Like a sparkling consommé soup, right? You often hear that on TV food shows too, like, "What? This salt ramen. Delicious! It's light yet rich!"

Tametsu: Hahaha.

──Like removing all the excess parts from the chicken and pork, simmering it for three days straight, and carefully skimming off the scum the whole time.

Tamemasu: I think "transparency" is the aesthetics of subtraction. It's what you arrive at after removing all the excess. The "transparency" we feel in children or babies might be because there's nothing extraneous mixed in—meaning there's no need for subtraction. This is just me groping around for answers, though (laughs).

──That's the aim of this series (laughs).

Tamesue: This might relate to the soup analogy, but the "transparency" athletes seek boils down to this: "moving smoothly, not jerkily."

──Whoa. You jumped right into the main topic.

Tamesue: For example...

──Hold on, hold on. That sounds like it could get deep, so let's save it for next time and talk about it thoroughly (laughs). (Continued in #22)

(Interviewer: Web Dentsu Inc. Editorial Department)

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From Hibi, Athlete Brains Production Team

This time's theme was "transparency." Mr. Tamesue provides insightful answers to any question. I feel this insight stems from his ability to articulate his experiences as an athlete with precision. Regarding the question of transparency, his answer was "innocence = absence of ulterior motives" – meaning he does things simply because he wants to. Connecting this slightly to business, a "transparent brand" could be seen as a "brand without ulterior motives." When defining purpose and planning actions to achieve it, asking "Are we making any unnecessary moves?" or "Are we taking actions with ulterior motives?" makes things very clear. I believe an athlete's words always hold hints for such thinking.

Athlete Brains Production Team Dentsu Inc. / Akinori Hibi (3CRP) · Genta Arahori (Late Bureau)

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Athlete Brains, led by Dai Tamesue.
For details on this team that leverages athletes' cultivated knowledge to solve societal (corporate/social) challenges, click here.