The national obsession: Why I can’t stand high school baseball
In Japan, high school baseball (Kōshien) is a summer obsession: over 4,000 schools compete for a national championship that lasts two weeks and moves fortunes. While the nation is glued to the TV, I often hear “men with good sense” raise valid criticisms: “The emphasis is too much,” or “Don’t prey on the innocent efforts of high school kids.”
To be brutally honest, based on my experience, I doubt the fundamental innocence of high school kids. It is said that humans inaccurately rewrite their memories to clearly distinguish between memory and reality. The fact that so many people remember their younger selves as pure and innocent offers a terrifying glimpse into our true, dark nature.
However, the criticism that “Too much emphasis is placed on one sport” is absolutely valid. The reason Kōshien dominates is not because media moguls love baseball; it’s the simple, brutal consequence of the free market. It’s popular, so it gets broadcast. I now find the debate surrounding the pros and cons of high school baseball far more interesting than the baseball itself.
The thrill of subjectivity: The joy of scoring sports
I used to like sports where the result was binary (win or lose). Now, I find my interest drawn to scoring sports—figure skating, gymnastics, synchronized swimming. Why? Because the outcome is never clean.
Judges give a score, fully expecting public criticism. Conversely, critics raise complaints, fully expecting the judges to defend their subjectivity. This cycle is the true activity: the constant, frustrating, yet vital challenge to exclude human subjectivity.
It’s a wonderful, messy game where you can see—or at least predict—human emotions, biases, and relationships playing out in the judging process. The uncertainty of human judgment is the ultimate entertainment.
The politics of design: Awards are scoring sports
Awards related to art, literature, and design are exactly the same. They are scoring sports in disguise.
Take the Academy Awards. The criteria and selector bodies have repeatedly changed following public outcry and criticism—an ongoing process that maintains the award’s validity and authority. If you understand the changes in the voting criteria over time, you can enjoy the Oscar race not just as a film competition, but as a complex political drama involving shifting cultural values. Imagining the backroom lobbying and the human relationships behind the scores is the most engaging part.
The punchline: We won without the drama!
Now, for the subject of today’s article. Do you know the Red Dot Design Award (RDDA), established in 1955? It’s a prestigious, internationally recognized honor in the design industry, essentially the “Oscars” of furniture and product design.
Fortunately, one of our new dining chairs has won the coveted “Best of the Best” award from the RDDA this year!
I know I just spent three paragraphs emphasizing the political nature of all scoring and judging activities. So, here’s my final, highly satisfying assertion: We won the Red Dot Design Award entirely on the merit of our design—without any behind-the-scenes politics, undue influence, or emotional scoring!
Shungo Ijima
He is travelling around the world. His passion is to explain Japan to the world, from the unique viewpoint accumulated through his career: overseas posting, MBA holder, former official of the Ministry of Finance.