The Invisible World and the Future of Japan
A special dialogue on the body, the economy, spirituality, and three degrees of influence
The Special Dialogue Is Now Available on Video
This special dialogue between Naoya Fujiwara and Yuki Matsuoka took place at Otemachi Sankei Plaza on August 22, 2026.
What is happiness? What can we rely on as we live through an uncertain age? And how are the body, the economy, spirituality, and our unseen connections with others related?
We have released the full recording, approximately two hours long, along with a 20-minute digest of the main themes.
Start with the 20-minute digest for an overview, or watch the full version to follow the conversation in depth.
Purpose of the Dialogue
The world is at a major turning point.
The economy, healthcare, education, work, and human relationships. Values we once took for granted are quietly beginning to shift.
At the same time, people are turning their attention once again to things we cannot see.
The atmosphere of a place. Bodily sensations. Intuition. Compatibility. The power of a shared space. Connections between people. The will to live.
Are these really just our imagination?
Naoya Fujiwara has spoken about a worldview based on complex numbers, seeing the visible, material world as the “real” component and the unseen world of spirituality and consciousness as the “imaginary” component.
Meanwhile, through his experience working with more than 3,000 people, Yuki Matsuoka has come to feel that the body is more than muscles and bones: it is strongly influenced by space, relationships, land, emotions, and consciousness.
In recent years, another important perspective has entered the picture: three degrees of influence.
Social-network research has reported associations involving happiness, loneliness, smoking, and cooperation that extend through three degrees of connection: friends, friends of friends, and their friends. Researchers continue to debate how much of this is genuinely the result of influence spreading from person to person.
Even so, perhaps our condition does not begin and end with us alone. This dialogue began with that question.
What will people rely on in the years ahead? How far can taking care of our own bodies influence society? What direction will Japan take?
In this dialogue, we discussed “The Invisible World and the Future of Japan” across the themes of the body, the economy, spirituality, and social networks.
Discussion Topics
A Conversation Across Disciplines
1. Looking at the World Ahead Through the Complex Number Model
Naoya Fujiwara has spoken in recent years about a “complex number model.”
If we regard the visible, material world as real numbers and unseen things such as spirituality and consciousness as imaginary numbers, the reality we inhabit appears not simply as a material world, but as a complex-number world in which the real and imaginary overlap.
The economy, politics, the body, and human relationships cannot be explained by visible numbers and institutions alone.
Unseen factors such as trust, fear, hope, intention, and the atmosphere of a place are deeply involved.
How do we engage with both the visible and invisible worlds as we consider Japan's future? This is one of the central themes of the dialogue.
2. What Are Three Degrees of Influence?
“Three degrees of influence” is a social-network theory widely popularized by Nicholas Christakis, a sociologist and physician at Harvard University, James Fowler, a political scientist at the University of California, San Diego, and their colleagues.
Its central idea is simple: Our actions and words ripple through networks. To our friends. To our friends' friends. And to our friends' friends' friends.
Christakis and his colleagues propose that influence reaches three degrees of connection and then weakens. Using data from sources including the Framingham Heart Study, a long-running U.S. health study, researchers have reported that happiness, smoking, loneliness, and cooperation appear to spread along networks of human relationships.
However, these studies examine the spread of human behavior and conditions. They do not demonstrate the effects of bodywork or remote sessions.
We are not as isolated as we may think. Our happiness, discomfort, tension, and sense of safety can reach those around us. And the states of those around us can, in turn, enter our own bodily experience.
This closely overlaps with what we have experienced through observing bodies at KaradaNaoru.
3. Even in the Social-Media Age, Strong Ties Matter
In the age of social media, information can reach tens or hundreds of thousands of people in an instant.
But receiving information and changing one's behavior are not the same thing.
In a large-scale experiment involving 61 million Facebook users, what had a substantial effect on voting behavior was not simply an informational message, but the knowledge that close friends had voted.
Reach and influence are different. Reaching many people and genuinely moving them to act are different.
Close relationships and strong ties still change people.
This is an important perspective when considering the future of society, politics, the economy, education, healthcare, and local communities.
Major change does not come only from large systems. One person's condition changes. A shared space finds balance. A relationship changes.
From there, the effects may spread through three degrees of connection.
4. How Much of Your Body Is Yours Alone?
Alongside in-person bodywork, Yuki Matsuoka has continued exploring remote support and the influence of space.
One thing he has come to feel strongly is that the body does not exist only “within the individual.”
Your breathing becomes shallow when you return home. Your body feels heavy in a particular place. You suddenly feel exhausted after meeting someone. Or simply being in a certain space allows your body to relax.
These experiences can appear as actual physical changes, rather than simply changes in mood.
As research into three degrees of influence suggests, a person's state can sometimes travel through networks.
What kind of space are you in? Who are you connected to? What awareness do you bring to your life?
The body is constantly influenced by these factors too.
Perhaps health in the 21st century means looking at the body, space, relationships, society, and spirituality without separating them.
5. From the Venue to the Other Side of the Screen
Sixty people joined us at the venue. The published videos have since received more than 50,000 views.
What if each person who attended took something back to the people close to them? What if someone who watched the video made even a small change to how they care for their body or live their life?
Those changes may already have reached three degrees of connection.
Counting the exact number of people is not the point. Our words, the condition of our bodies, and the way we live reach further than we may realize. We hope this dialogue offers a chance to remember that.
Download Materials
We have prepared a PDF on “Three Degrees of Influence,” a topic covered in this dialogue, with research background and key references.
Who This Conversation Is For
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People seeking perspectives beyond familiar frameworks on major changes in society and the economy
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People interested in Naoya Fujiwara's complex number model and his views on the invisible world
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People interested in three degrees of influence, social networks, and the effect of strong ties on society
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People working in healthcare, bodywork, counseling, or education who sense a challenge that goes beyond technique
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People interested in how space, relationships, and the atmosphere of a place influence the body
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People who want to consider what real influence means in the social-media age
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People who want to trust their intuition and bodily senses again
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People who want to consider Japan's possibilities through the perspectives of the body, the economy, and spirituality
Naoya Fujiwara
Economic analyst and thinker
Former Salomon Brothers Asia Securities Investment Strategy Research Department, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Aeruba Co., Ltd.
Yuki Matsuoka
Karada Naoru Representative
Bodywork experience with more than 3,000 people. Representative of "One's Word Online," an online English and Spanish language school.
