{"id":5481,"date":"2025-02-28T20:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-02-28T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sports-tokyo-info.metro.tokyo.lg.jp\/tokyoforward2025-legacy\/?post_type=supporter&p=5481"},"modified":"2025-07-04T10:39:26","modified_gmt":"2025-07-04T01:39:26","slug":"takaya-mitsuka-en","status":"publish","type":"supporter","link":"https:\/\/www.sports-tokyo-info.metro.tokyo.lg.jp\/tokyoforward2025-legacy\/en\/entertainer\/takaya-mitsuka-en\/","title":{"rendered":"Takaya Mitsuka (Running Influencer) – To create a new history in track and field, the one and only “fascinating” running"},"content":{"rendered":"

A personal best that jumped out towards the end of his competitive career
\nA graduation thesis that became a turning point in his life<\/h2>\n

\u2015When did you start track and field and what made you start it?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mitsuka\u3000<\/strong>I started in high school. In junior high school, I was on the baseball team, and I wasn’t fast at all when I was in the first year of junior high, but suddenly I became faster in the second year. I was able to run at the top of the school’s endurance run, and when I was in the third year of junior high, I was running in the local ekiden competition as a helper. I enjoyed it so much that I joined the track and field team in high school. Why I became fast…, maybe because I was always running about 2km from my house to school. I loved my house so much that I stayed at home until the last minute in the morning, and I wanted to get home as soon as possible, so I ran back home.<\/p>\n

\u2015It’s surprising that you were on the baseball team.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mitsuka\u3000<\/strong>At that time, I was obsessed with the “Live Powerful Pro Baseball” game, so I thought, “I love baseball”. Also, it was because my dad was a softball player. But when I tried it, it wasn’t very fun. I really hated shaving my head! Even at that time, I had the kind of personality that made me wonder, “Will my batting average increase if I shave my head?”<\/strong><\/span>, so I often felt unreasonable\u2026. I found out that my favorite sport was not baseball, but “Live Powerful Pro Baseball”, so I joined the track and field club in high school without hesitation.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

\"The
He became faster because \u201che loved his house too much\u201d.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u2015In high school, you finished 6th in the 800m at the Inter-High School Championships, and then went on to the University of Tsukuba. Why did you decide to study at the University of Tsukuba?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mitsuka\u3000<\/strong>When I went on to higher education, I first wanted to learn about sports, and above all, I wanted to devote myself to competing in a higher-level environment. Tamana High School, which I attended, was a preparatory school, so unlike strong schools with many athletes who participated in the national tournament, there were no rivals on the team\u2026. I thought that if I was getting good results by practicing on my own, I would be able to achieve unbelievable results if I went to a better environment. Our high school had a sense of national supremacy, so I narrowed it down to the University of Tsukuba because it was a national university where I could learn sports while being strong in track and field. Speaking of the University of Tsukuba, it reminds us of Shizo Kanakuri who made an effort to establish the Hakone Ekiden relay marathon. Shizo Kanakuri was a senior at Tamana High School, so in that respect, the University of Tsukuba was familiar to me in a sense, and I felt that it was an environment where I could have what I wanted in both competition and academics.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

\"The
6th place in the Inter-High School Championships.
\nHe quickly rose to the national level during his high school days.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u2015What was your competitive life like at university?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mitsuka\u3000<\/strong>Well, it was one of the best environments in Japan, but I never achieved a personal best at university. When I was in high school, I felt like I was the best at everything I could do, but I couldn’t do my best even once, even though I pushed myself to work hard and increased my practice time. I started to hate track and field. At the university, there is a major tournament called the Japan Intercollegiate in September, and up to three people from each university can participate in it by breaking the entry standard. However, in July, I missed the selection, so I was practically retired. For the next six months or so, I just enjoyed running and supported other athletes. It was a very difficult time for me to set a record for four years before I retired.<\/p>\n

\u2015That\u2019s when you started working on your graduation thesis?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mitsuka\u3000<\/strong>That’s right. I started working seriously on my graduation thesis, and I was able to learn more specialized knowledge than I did in class. While compiling it into my thesis, there were more than a few times when I thought, “If I put this into practice, I could have become stronger…”, and sometimes I would put into practice what I had learned regardless of club activities. Then, at the last festive record meeting held in November, for some reason, I achieved my best record. I haven’t been practicing properly since I retired in July, so I was very surprised. I’ve been working hard until now, but I’ve realized that you don’t get stronger because you push yourself, but that you get stronger by putting a high level of pressure on yourself based on clear data.<\/strong><\/span> From that experience, I was motivated to study more, so I went on to graduate school.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

\"The
Four years of suffering.
\nAnd he broke his record after retiring.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u2015Did you continue to compete after you went to graduate school?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mitsuka\u3000<\/strong>Yes, I continued to compete while studying in graduate school, but I was able to break the record seven times in the 800m and 1500m, even though I didn’t have a single best at university. I was impressed with the method I was practicing, and when I taught it to my juniors, they kept breaking the records… That gave me a lot of confidence, and by the end of my two years of graduate school, I seriously considered that I wanted to “teach”. When I was searching for a career path after graduation, I happened to have a connection with a gym called RUNNNING SCIENCE LAB (hereinafter referred to as RSLAB), which focuses on hypoxic training in Omotesando. Not only I can teach as a trainer there, but I can also focus on coaching on social networking sites such as YouTube, so I can work on “teaching” more broadly. In addition, I was told that I would be supported in my competitive life, so I decided that this is the only place I can go!<\/p>\n

\"The
A method that has been proven effective for both him and those around him.
\nGrowing desire to “teach” and move on to the next stage.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The reality of track and field seen on the dream stage,
\nPoor health that made him fall to rock bottom…
\nThat’s how he was able to encounter with “running”<\/h2>\n

\u2015After getting a job, you continued to improve your record and finally participated in the Japan Championships. How did you feel when you actually competed?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mitsuka\u3000<\/strong>The Japan Championships is the pinnacle of track and field in Japan and is a dream stage for athletes. It has been 10 years since I started competing, and I finally made it to that stage. But when I actually ran, I was honestly like, “What?” I didn’t make it to the final, but I was able to run close to my personal best, and I felt that I did it! However, when I crossed the finish line and looked around the venue, the spectator seats were empty. What is this? Is this the dream stage? Even when I posted it on Twitter (now formally known as X), I just got a little more “likes” than usual. I’ve been working hard to qualify for this tournament, but there was no enthusiasm, no cheers, no attention, and it wasn’t what I had envisioned.<\/strong><\/span> Even if I thought about how different it would have been if I had made it to the finals or if I had won, I am sure it would not have changed. In today’s track and field world, I began to think that there was no point in doing it anymore, and I lost the motivation to do my best in competitions. However, it did not mean that I would stay away from track and field. We need to increase the value of track and field itself so that athletes are rewarded, <\/strong><\/span>rather than aiming to be extremely good at the sport. In order to do so, I had a new goal of taking an unprecedented approach to spreading awareness of the sport, raising interest, and making an effort to fill the spectator seats.<\/strong><\/span> That’s when I started TikTok. <\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

\"The
A dream stage that was different from what he had envisioned.
\nThe reality of athletics that he was able to see because of his participation.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u2015Why did you choose TikTok?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mitsuka\u3000<\/strong>At RSLAB, we used to send out information on YouTube, but YouTube is a medium where people like to watch what they like. In the first place, no one bothers to watch running when they have little interest. When I thought about what to do, TikTok came to my mind. At that time, it was just a medium for high school girls to post dance videos. So, when I started working on it, I heard some ridicule from the people around me. But that’s what happens when you do something new. I thought it would be a good way to blend running into the TikTok craze, \u2026 or rather, to create content that would lead to a sense of foreignness in a good way, and sure enough, I was right.<\/strong><\/span> I’m sure there are many factors, but the key to our success was that we were able to analyze the nature of TikTok as a medium and use it strategically. As soon as I started posting, my followers suddenly exceeded 10,000, so I had a smug look on my face. <\/p>\n

\u2015It seems that you were able to work vigorously, but you started feeling unwell. What was the situation like at that time?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mitsuka\u3000<\/strong>I was involved in competitions, working as a trainer, promoting track and field, and filming and editing TikTok by myself, so I didn’t have much time… Even though I couldn’t sleep much, I still had to wake up early and practice. I was so exhausted that one day I collapsed at work as if my spirit had shattered. I couldn’t put any strength into my body at all, and I couldn’t move when it was time to leave the house the next day, and I became scared to meet people… At first, I took a leave of absence, but the representative said, “Takaya Mitsuka is doing well on TikTok and has the ability, so he can do it on his own, so he should retire and take a break for the time being,” so I decided to retire.<\/p>\n

\"Black<\/p>\n

\u2015How did you resume your activities from there?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mitsuka\u3000<\/strong>About a month after I retired, I first posted about my current situation on YouTube. When I thought about doing something while I stayed at home, I thought that I could do it by myself, as I had also appeared on RSLAB’s YouTube channel. Until I retired, I was doing well in competition and studying, and I was appreciated for teaching running, but I lost everything at once due to ill health. There have been times when I feel like I have nothing, and no matter what I do, I am not satisfied, and I have thought about death. But dying causes more trouble to those around you than living. Especially, to the family I love. When I realized that I wasn’t going to die, I got over it and decided to tell everyone about my current situation. I didn’t want to tell people that I was mentally ill, but I thought never mind.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n