After dealing with Inohara-san’s endless energy, our third day of shooting had a completely different feel and pace. My last interview subject in Kobe was one of Onitsuka Tiger’s most heralded athletes, Kenji Kimihara. Despite his many accomplishments, Kimihara-san was humble and quiet, he arrived with his son and grandson and he exuded a nervous energy that was striking considering that, as a Silver medalist and the winner of multiple marathons, I was sure he had done his share of press and interviews.

Through some bizarre twist of logic, this man was nervous to speak to me. An athlete of the highest order who, well into his 60′s still runs at least one marathon a year was nervous about being interviewed by a relative pup like me. Feeling that I should be more nervous than him, I suddenly found myself in a feedback loop of nervousness, his nerves amplifying mine. What resulted was a jittery, sweaty palmed performance of pleasantries on my part in our makeshift green room that did nothing to calm either one of us down.

I was honestly prepared for a horrendous day of shooting, until the cameras actually started rolling and we got into the flow of the interview. Once Kimihara-san was able to speak candidly about his experiences with Onitsuka Tiger leading up to his triumph at the 1968 games, his nervousness melted and gave way to a more easy going energy as he recounted the customisations he made to the shoes that he wore to a silver medal finish in Mexico City. Working hand-in-hand with our product team, Kimihara-san was the catalyst for many of the developments seen in the MAGIC RUNNER pictured above. The holes he cut in the shoes to prevent blisters would give birth to our first ventilation system for runners, where the removal of fabrics on the heel tab and ankle support led to a reduction in the weight and stiffness of the heel of the shoe that made it lighter and more form fitting.

Having already spoken to part of the development team that had worked on the MAGIC RUNNER and other shoes from that era, it was interesting to get the perspective of the athlete whose professional life literally hinged on the product’s ability to perform under duress. Looking at his heavily customised samples, it was clear that Kimihara-san shared Sakaguchi- and Inohara-sans’ view that the product could always be better, and by “better” I mean more efficient, and more practical.

One thing I started to take away from these meetings was Onitsuka Tiger’s early fixation with being The Best. I don’t speak Japanese but the word Ichiban (number one) came up over and over again in each interview. In the West, there is a tendency to paint Asian cultures as demure and humble, but the men I got to meet with in Kobe all seemed obsessed with being the best: the best athlete, the best product designer, the best brand, the best, number one, ichiban. Kimihara-san was a great example of the dichotomy at play in that fixation. On the one hand, he was quiet and nervous at the prospect of being interviewed about his achievements, on the other, his youth was spent in pursuit of the loftiest of goals, and he had no shame admitting he wanted nothing less than Gold.

Kimihara-san and the products he helped create were cited more than once as examples of the idea of Choujyu-saksusen literally “The Summit Tactic.” As one of the core principles of the brand, Choujyu-sakusen could most easily be definited as the idea that starting from the top will yield better results and deepr learning than starting from the bottom. By focusing on making the best product for the best athletes, the brand was able to grow quickly in terms of technology and reputation, much faster than they would have if they had focused on making products for the mass market with the goal of cashing out immediately.

After his gracious interview, we bid adieu to Kimihara-san and to Kobe, as I traveled with the crew to Tokyo for our last week of shooting and our final interview.

More to come.