Check out Takumi’s NEW English youtube channel 🎵
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https://www.youtube.com/@takuway
I’m holding a free Q&A seminar!
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30 minutes on Zoom. Please join us!
I’ll post the details in the open chat ↓↓↓
Open Chat “Takumi Yamazaki Daily Report”
Please join here (registration takes 6 seconds)
To the drawing studio with my daughter
Académie de la Grande Chaumièreis a place steeped in history.
Taro Okamoto, Tsuguharu Foujita, Tove Jansson, Modigliani, Giacometti, Miró...
A place that truly merges with history.
It was so much fun to take part with my daughter!
We moved to Concorde, and from there to Hôtel Costes.
The first time I saw the terrace here, it sent a jolt through me. “So this is Hôtel Costes?!”
Many of you probably know the music...
Really, Paris is full of memories.
The city bears scars...
The demonstrations apparently continue.
As the Italian prime minister also said, demonstrations are legal, but looting is a crime. They will certainly pursue it!
Getting around by metro~
To Merci!
Another stimulating day!
A “staffless café” where you can stay “as many hours as you like” for ¥420 a cup of coffee is popular with Gen Z... Why it rapidly expanded to 75 stores nationwide with no staff and no food (Toyo Keizai Online)https://u.lin.ee/8n8e6Yf?mediadetail=1&utm_source=line&utm_medium=share&utm_campaign=none&ep_list_account_id=%40linenews&ep_list_slug=irchet8e9dtn
“Sleep, sleep, eat” is life’s primary desire.
Hearing that, I had a realization.
What are we working for?
To be happy.
To live richly.
To spend time laughing with the people we love.
We’re supposed to be working for that, yet we cut back on sleep, rush through meals, whip our tired bodies on, and go to work again today.
Huh? Isn’t the order backwards?
We work to be happy, yet we ruin the very body we need to feel happiness.
We work to be rich, yet we have no time to savor the richness.
We earn money to eat delicious food, yet we’re too busy to even taste it.
Isn’t that a little strange?
“Sleep, sleep, eat”
Sleep isn’t slacking.
Meals aren’t getting in the way of work.
Rest isn’t life’s injury time.
The main event of life doesn’t begin after work is over.
The time we spend working, the time we spend eating, the time we spend sleeping — all of it is life itself.
So let’s think about it for a moment.
Not “I’ll rest when work is done,” but “Let me structure my work so that I can really rest.”
Not “I’ll eat something delicious when I have time,” but “Let me secure time to eat well first.”
We sacrifice our health to succeed, then try to win it back after we’ve succeeded.
Surely we don’t need to take such a roundabout path?
Life isn’t a preparation period for becoming happy.
Sleep properly today.
Eat deliciously today.
Laugh with the people you love today.
Don’t put it off.
Because we work in order to live.
Life isn’t here for the sake of work.
Work is here for the sake of life.
Our Kyoto shop is doing amazingly!!!
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Thank you so much!
Sake makes everything feel just right~~~
Kyoto Takusand (Gokomachi / Kiyomizu-zaka)
The film “Arigato no Kiseki” (The Miracle of Gratitude)
Takumi Yamazaki
is taking part as an actor.
Why
does an organization, once it reaches a certain size,
stop growing?!
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1. Dunbar’s Number and the Limits of the Brain
Dunbar’s Number (Upper Limit: 150 People)
Proposed by British anthropologist Robin Dunbar, this is the upper limit on the number of people with whom a human brain can maintain stable social relationships.
It’s not merely being able to match faces to names, but the maximum number of people whose relationships to you and standing within the community you can keep track of.
Brain Capacity (Social Brain Hypothesis)
The scale of the social network a person can process is determined by the size of the neocortex.
Even in today’s world, where social media connects us with thousands of people, the brain’s processing power and capacity to handle stress are limited, so this “150-person wall” doesn’t change.
If you spend brain capacity on pointless relationships, you lose the thinking power that should go toward your career and what truly matters.
2. The Hierarchy of Relationships (the Rule of Three)
Human relationships aren’t flat; they form concentric layers centered on you (the Rule of Three), across which the limited resources of time and attention are allocated.
About 5 people (the innermost layer)
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Family and one-of-a-kind best friends — the closest relationships.
About 40% of your time and emotional energy goes to this layer, and contact at least about once a week is considered desirable.
About 15 people (the sympathy group)
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Close friends to whom you can confide personal troubles.
Contact about once a month is a guide; together with the 5-person layer, about 60% of your resources go to these inner people.
About 50 people (colleagues, friends, etc.)
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A size suited to meeting often and acting together (close to the size of a hunter-gatherer band).
Contact about once every few months is a guide.
About 150 people (Dunbar’s number)
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The maximum limit at which you can maintain trusting relationships.
Contact about once a year is needed, and beyond this, relationships tend to become mere acquaintances or transactional ones.
3. Brain Chemicals and Biological Mechanisms
Stress hormone (cortisol)
It tends to be released when you’re in a huge, opaque group (where you can’t tell who is who), heightening wariness and distrust.
Endorphins (the brain’s natural opioids)
Released in groups of familiar, reassuring faces and through social grooming such as “laughing together” and “sharing stories” (the human version of grooming).
This forms the biological foundation of strong bonds and psychological safety.
In remote-work environments, this natural contact decreases, and the effective Dunbar number tends to shrink.
4. Applications to Organizations and Careers
Guidelines for organizational design (the Dunbar Blueprint)
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150 people: the upper limit for an independent business unit, factory, or branch.
50 people: the ideal upper limit for a department-level unit.
15 people: the size of a project team that needs high cooperation and fast decision-making.
5 people: the number of direct reports a manager can coach well.
Personal career strategy (becoming an architect of relationships)
Rather than blindly chasing the number of connections, it’s important to think strategically about “what kinds of people to place” in your own 5-, 15-, and 50-person layers, and to design your network accordingly.
Troubles in relationships and distortions in organizations stem not only from individual personality or a lack of leadership but from the “cognitive limits” and “biological mechanisms” of the human brain. Using this law as a lens, you can begin to see how to build productive, warm relationships and organizations without strain.
https://www.tiktok.com/@user7731635726616/video/7694591421558410518
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The Showa era, when effort was an “investment”
The Heisei era, when effort was “insurance”
The Reiwa era, when effort became “self-investment”
The company itself was
an “identity” in the Showa era
a “reward” in the Heisei era
a “place for self-growth” in the Reiwa era
In the Showa era,
people entrusted their lives to the company
In the Heisei era,
it was a transactional contract with the company
In the Reiwa era,
it’s a place for self-investment
What can I get from the company?
They seek growth and meaning
For Gen Z,
digital tattoos are a risk
so they can’t take risks
Words and photos stay on record
They protect themselves by avoiding failure
How the World Looks, Generation by Generation
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The Essence of Conflict: Generational misunderstandings (not understanding the boss, not being able to read subordinates) aren’t because one side is wrong, but because they simply have “different worlds in view (historical backgrounds)”.
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What Determines a Generation: According to research by Karl Mannheim, Schuman and others, people’s values are imprinted by the events of society they experienced in adolescence (around ages 17–25).In other words, generational differences are not differences in “personality or ability,” but “differences in how the world was moving while we were becoming adults (the optimal solution of the era)”.
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The Real Nature of the Gap: Half of the differences between generations are “generational (historical background) differences,” but the other half are “age differences” (young people tend to be adventurous, middle-aged people conservative).
The “View of the World” and “View of Work” of the Three Generations
1. The Showa Generation (late 50s and up today)
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The world they see:“Time is a straight line” (they experienced rising economic growth firsthand). Effort pays off.
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Psychological contract: A “relational contract” (they entrusted their lives to the company, and the company took care of them until retirement).
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View of work / traits: Work is life itself. The company or organization is their identity.“Three years on a rock” and “raising people by yelling” worked.
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Challenges: Their own success stories (“when I was young...”) no longer work, their teaching turns into imposing, and they have no place outside the company (the loneliness problem).
2. The Yutori (“Relaxed Education”) Generation (30s today / born 1987–1996)
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The world they see:“Time is a floor (flat)” (they grew up in bad economic times, watching their parents’ generation go unrewarded).
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Psychological contract: A “transactional contract” (this pay for this job; the company won’t protect your life).
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View of work / traits: Effort isn’t an investment but insurance (a defense against losing points). They value work-life balance. Leaving on time is “defense” and “protecting their lives.”
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Challenges: The first of the “sandwiched generation,” squeezed from above and below. The name of the education policy (“yutori”) itself became an evaluation of their character and a nickname.
3. Generation Z (20s and under today / born 1997 and after)
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The world they see:“Time is a flat surface flowing in from above (a timeline)”.Always-connected and search-first is the premise.
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Psychological contract: A “place for self-investment” (what can I get from this company; they seek growth and meaning).
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View of work / traits: Because a single failure or slip of the tongue is recorded as a digital tattoo, they extremely fear risk (afraid of phone calls, craving the right answer). They value immediate feedback and meaning, not just compensation.
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Challenges: Comparison never ends, and anxiety and depression indicators have worsened since smartphones spread. Not telling them the right answer feels not like “training” but like “being mean.”
The Position of Those in Their 40s to Early 50s (the Sandwiched / Employment Ice Age Generation)
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Background:The Showa-era message that “effort is an investment” — they absorbed that education and atmosphere, yet entered society at the bottom of the Heisei era (the employment ice age).
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Role: Carrying a Showa map while walking in the world of the Yutori and Z generations.From above they’re asked for Showa ways; from below, for Gen Z ways of engaging.
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Value: They’re the only “translators,” able to understand both the meaning of the Showa “effort is an investment” and the meaning of the Yutori/Z “fear of losing points.”
“Translation Skills” You Can Use at Work
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Add the “why”: When giving instructions, adding the reason prevents the anxiety of “if I fail, it’s my fault (being blamed).”
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Shorten the feedback loop: Rather than an annual review, match the speed of the timeline world by adding a weekly everyday word (small talk or frequent praise).
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Check what a period means: Disclose and reconcile generational differences in expression, not just literal meaning (for example, reading a period at the end of a sentence as anger). Let’s ban “maru-hara” (period harassment).
https://share.gemini.google/2f2eOnO5Oa4z
Link to Takumi Yamazaki’s ENGLISH Book “SHIFT”
https://amzn.to/2DYcFkG
Original post (Japanese): https://ameblo.jp/takumi-yamazaki/entry-12982337011.html