Yusuke Narita: Designing the future with Bon Odori instead of foot races

Economist Yusuke Narita

■ Profile
Economist, data scientist, entrepreneur, and third-rate entertainer. He designs business and public policies by combining data, algorithms, and ideas. He presents his research in a wide range of fields and engages in joint ventures with companies and local governments. He is also involved in a variety of projects and appearances, including reporting, debate, comedy, art, and fashion.

[PLAYERS BEFORE DAWN]
An unpredictable talk show between the innovators "PLAYERS" who are shaping the future of Japan and Narita Yusuke.
The program is available to watch in various formats on terrestrial television, YouTube, and the official website. You can watch this interview in "Episode 26: Student Reporters and the Dawn of Zombie Money."
https://www.youtube.com/@yoakemaeplayers

■What was your student life like?

I spent my high school years sleeping all the time. I slept through most of my classes, and when I woke up I'd wander around the library, used bookstores, record stores, and movie theaters. I spent my time just looking at everything aimlessly. Maybe I wanted to escape from my everyday life, where I was moving forward normally toward my goal. I didn't have any dreams or goals back then. But I wasn't anxious either. That's because I wasn't thinking about anything.

■ We'd like to ask you about the future that data will bring.

Without a goal or objective, most things become unimportant. For example, you have no attachment to becoming important or earning more money than others. But money is a strange thing. I think of it as a device that loosely represents past memories. However, this system of money has a weakness in that it is impossible to distinguish from the value that the owner of 10,000 yen has created. However, a pinch hitter has appeared: "data." Modern technology has begun to record in detail our attributes, daily actions, and the values ​​that exude from them. Such data can become a foundation for gratitude and trust that replaces money.

■Message to students

In the future, the value of money and the way we work may change dramatically. Regarding the meaning of competition, up until now, "vertical competition"—competition based on speed, strength, and intelligence—has dominated. Students are evaluated by academic achievement scores, by speed and strength at sports events, and by sales performance and annual income once they enter the workforce. Rankings are determined. However, in a future society where complex data will become more important than simple measures like money, I predict that "horizontal competition" will become even more important. Take sports events, for example. Instead of rankings based on running, everyone dances freely. This culture is one in which people compete not for speed or slowness, or for size or height, but for self-satisfaction. Competition and evaluation will not disappear, but rather the form of competition will change from footraces, where people compete for speed or speed, size, or height, to Bon Odori, where people enjoy differences and change. I believe this is the first step toward a future in which we are freed from comparing ourselves to others and can live more freely.

Student Newspaper April 2025 Issue Hosei University 4th Year Shimada Daiki

<Junior and Senior High School Newspaper Special Edition eSports Special Issue April 2025 Cover Special Interview>

■ An era in which we ate a hodgepodge of values ​​and worldviews

I spent my high school years sleeping all the time. I slept through most of my classes, and when I woke up I'd wander around the library, used bookstores, record stores, and movie theaters. I spent my time just looking at everything aimlessly. Maybe I wanted to escape from the everyday routine of moving forward normally toward a goal. I often slept on the shelves in the mountaineering club's clubroom, which only had three members. It was a club in name only; we would sometimes climb mountains and walk for days and days on end. That was all. I remember traveling across the Southern Alps for about a week, and suddenly the view opened up and the ridges of distant mountains, illuminated by the setting sun, jumped into view, and I felt like the world was filled with different places.
Back then, I had no dreams or goals. But I wasn't anxious either. That's because I wasn't thinking about anything. I feel like spending that time taught me how to face the here and now. It gave me the attitude of not worrying about pointless things, not being driven by feelings of inferiority or superiority, and just letting myself drift calmly towards death. Even now, I still have no dreams or goals.

■A future beyond money

If you don't have a goal or purpose, most things don't matter to you. For example, you don't care about becoming important, and you don't have much attachment to making more money than others. But money is a strange thing.
I think money is a device that roughly expresses past memories. If you have money now, it means that you or your guardians created something valuable in the past and were thanked by others. Money is a trace of someone's gratitude.
But isn't this system of money a little too rough? 10,000 yen tells us nothing about the value its owner has created. Its weakness is that it cannot distinguish between 10,000 yen generated through charity and 10,000 yen generated through fraud and extortion. Money is like an eraser that erases the details of an individual's background and actions. That's why it has the advantage that anyone can buy things without being trapped by the past, as long as they have money.
However, a new pinch hitter has recently emerged to fill the weaknesses of money: data. From the vast amount of behavioral data captured by smartphones to comments and connections on social media, modern technology has come to meticulously record our attributes, daily actions, and the values ​​that emerge from them. This data could become the foundation of gratitude and trust that replaces money. For example, when you buy something at the supermarket, you don't buy it with money, but with the trust you have in the product based on your past behavioral data. Such a world may become a reality.
Of course, it's a mystery whether this is a "good" world. A money-free data society could potentially become dystopian. However, utopia and dystopia are always two sides of a fine line. Can we overcome the limitations of the monetary system and create a device that conveys "thank you" and trust in a more flexible and fresh way? It all depends on our imagination and ability to implement it.

■From vertical competition to horizontal competition

The meaning of competition will also change. Until now, "vertical competition" dominated, competing for speed, strength, and intelligence. In studies, students are evaluated by their academic scores, at sports events by their speed and strength, and once they enter the workforce, by their sales performance and annual income. Rankings are determined. However, in the future society, where complex data will become more important than simple measures like money, we predict that "horizontal competition" will become more important. Horizontal competition, in other words, competition between individuals for individuality and deviation.
Take sports day, for example. Instead of ranking people by running, everyone dances freely. Such changes are already underway. This is a culture where people compete not for speed or slowness, but for how freely and eccentrically they can dance, and how self-satisfied they can be. In studies, too, rather than the same classes, textbooks, and exams for everyone, customized education based on each individual's interests, strengths, and weaknesses will become the norm.
Competition and evaluation themselves will not disappear. However, the form of competition will change from something like a footrace, where people compete for speed, size, or height, to something like a Bon Odori dance, where people enjoy differences and change. I think this is the first step towards a future where we are freed from comparing ourselves to others and can live more as ourselves.

■ If you have time to study, play games

The key to such a future is e-sports, or rather games and virtual spaces. Since serious adults frown upon the word "games," I agree with renaming it e-sports (laughs). In those spaces, even people who find it difficult to survive in the real world can create new lives. For example, someone with a physical disability can exercise in the world of games, finding joy and connections they can't find in reality. More and more people will transcend the constraints of the real world and demonstrate new, different values ​​in virtual spaces. This is the new competition I mentioned earlier. It's not just about wasting time immersed in games, but the act of creating new people, a new society, and a new reality.

Daiki Shimada, fourth-year student at Hosei University

N High school second year student Masamasa Hattori / Kunitachi College of Music fourth year student Maria Okabe / Hosei University fourth year student Daiki Shimada