Flying Lizard

『ミスター・チームリーダー』石田夏穂　新潮社　２０２４年

Goto, who works for a fictional Japanese leasing company called Rentaal Co. Ltd.[1], is a bodybuilder in his spare time. He gets up at 5 a.m. every morning and measures his weight and arrives at the company premises in Nihonbashi, a business district in central Tokyo, by 7 a.m.

When the story starts, the 182 cm tall Goto weighs 81.9 kilograms with 10 percent body fat.

Many of his co-workers are also “ishiki takame[2]” exercise fanatics who like to exercise first thing in the morning. Goto is in full diet mode, splitting his meals and calorie consumption to six times a day, as he prepares for a bodybuilding contest coming up in two months. A member of the Japan BodyBuilding Competition (JBBC), Goto has been taking part in bodybuilding contests for eight years.

In the past, his typical weight class was 80 kilograms or lower, but this year Goto is taking on a new challenge, moving down to the 75 kilograms-or-lower weight class.

At work, he is a team leader at Rentaal Co. Ltd.’s “construction materials and equipment No.2 section”, which leases machinery including cranes, forklifts, generators and drainage pumps and pretty much anything that is needed at construction sites. Goto is on the fast track, a nine-year veteran who has been promoted ahead of his peers. 

 This is the story’s backdrop, and from there, Goto becomes ensnared in a series of chores, tasks, and projects that threaten to disrupt his meticulously planned training routine. His colleagues, many of whom Goto considers to be overweight slackers, leave tempting, delicious-looking sweets on his desk. He is asked to help carry sofas and furniture from the building lobby all the way up to the CEO’s office on the 20^th floor using the staircase, an arduous task that wreaks havoc on the timing of his meals.

On another day, representatives from a client company “Q Construction” show up unannounced during lunch break, just as Goto was hoping to go take a walk to burn some calories. As expected, and to Goto’s annoyance, Q Construction didn’t have any specific business to discuss, they were just dropping by to say hello. They hand Goto a bag with cake inside for him to share with his colleagues, but Goto can’t stand the thought of people in his section munching on cake. He tosses the package in a dustbin.

Throughout all this, Goto becomes more and more distressed. He just can’t seem to lose weight despite all his efforts. If anything, he feels as if his body is becoming a bit bloated. As the bodybuilding contest draws near, he feels like he is behind schedule.

As he gets increasingly more desperate, Goto keeps getting called into tasks and commitments that threaten to disrupt his weight-loss regimen. He gets invited to drinks after work, is suddenly asked to go on a business trip to Hamamatsu, about a three-hour drive from Tokyo, and one of his most trusted junior colleagues abruptly resigns, driving Goto’s boss nuts.

Whenever Goto tries to decline tasks at work citing his desire to prepare for the bodybuilding contest, he feels his body fat tingle, almost as if it’s expanding. After a while he figures out that carrying out his assigned tasks actually helps him lose weight. When he becomes more productive at work, and his team performs better overall, his body becomes leaner. Putting that knowledge to work, he manages to meet his weight target.

On the morning of the competition, Goto walks confidently to the pre-tournament weigh-in, having left the house weighing 73.9 kilograms –well under the 75-kg threshold for his weight class – and with just 5.4 percent body fat. He seems well-prepared and motivated for the competition, the climax of the story.

This book extolls the virtue of hard work. During a monologue, Goto mentions that many bodybuilders set goals using themselves as their measuring stick. But achieving impressive results is only possible through competition with others and exceeding one’s personal limits, by straining beyond one’s comfort zone to the point where you are no longer your typical self. If everyone were focused on competing against themselves and improving at their own pace they would all slack off and achieve limited results, Goto thinks.

 Another theme is work-life balance. When Goto prioritizes his bodybuilding pastime over work, he struggles to get his body in shape. Only when he finally throws himself headlong into his job, does he manage to trim his weight the way he wanted to.

 That is very relatable. When you’re firing on all cylinders at work, you have more energy for your hobbies and enjoy them more. When productivity declines at work, that can also reduce the energy and motivation you have for hobbies.

 Initially, I picked up this book because it was short, 125 pages. I needed something light to read after having read a couple of books that dealt with heavy topics. Once I got into the story, it quickly became a page-turner, making me eager to learn about the fate of Goto and his co-workers. Goto’s attitude toward co-workers who aren’t fitness freaks like him bothered me, but even so, I enjoyed the book and found it surprisingly thought-provoking.

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[1] 「（株）レンタール」is the company name. “Mr. Team Leader,” Kaho Ishida, p. 5.

[2] “Ishiki takame” means something like “highly motivated” but can have a slightly negative nuance. Like “mount wo toru,” (taking the mount position) in “Death of Selfie,” it’s an expression that’s become popular in the last couple of decades.