The "Octopus Suction Cup" and a Man's Tenacity That Gave Birth to ASICS (Onitsuka Tiger) #PR

1. The genius's inspiration is always at the "dining table"

In a previous article, I introduced the episode where the origin of the world's largest brand, Nike, lay in the insane DIY of the founder pouring rubber into his wife's "waffle maker (breakfast)." Huge innovations are born not in state-of-the-art labs, but in the casual moments of daily life.

And here in Japan, we have a "historical invention born from the dining table" that rivals Nike's waffle sole. If Nike is breakfast, Japan is "dinner." This time, I will tell the story of a "taco dish" on a certain evening that propelled the world-class Japanese sports brand "ASICS (formerly Onitsuka Tiger)" forward. (*While this includes legendary episodes widely passed down in sneaker history, I want you to feel the tenacity of craftsmanship at its core.)

2. 1951, the difficult challenge of basketball shoes

In 1949, shortly after the war, Kihachiro Onitsuka founded "Onitsuka Shokai (later ASICS)" in Kobe, Hyogo Prefecture. The first challenge he took on was basketball shoes, which were considered the most difficult to develop among sports shoes.

Basketball is a grueling sport that involves constant "sudden starts and sudden stops" on a wooden court. Canvas shoes made with the Japanese technology of the time would inevitably slip on the court, failing to bring out the players' performance. "How can I create grip that stops perfectly on a wooden floor?" Onitsuka continued to think about the sole structure day after day, but the answer was nowhere to be found.

3. The "octopus" on the dining table changed the history of Japanese sports

The summer of 1951. A dish using octopus (often said to be sunomono, or vinegared dish) was served on the dining table in front of Onitsuka. As Onitsuka tried to pick up a slice of octopus with his chopsticks, he noticed something strange. The octopus's suction cups were stuck firmly to the bottom of the small bowl and wouldn't come off easily.

At that moment, lightning struck in Onitsuka's brain."This is it! If I make the bottom of the sole in the shape of an octopus's suction cup, it might stick to the floor and not slip!"

Based on this idea, he repeated prototypes and created a trial model with "suction cup-shaped indentations" deep in the sole. About 20 years before the birth of Nike's waffle sole. It was the moment a historical sole was born in a small Japanese shoe factory, which could be called a pioneer of biomimicry, applying biological structures to products.

4. "Too effective brakes" and the Japanese craftsman's spirit

However, this trivia has a "continuation" that makes gear-loving men even more enthusiastic. When the prototype equipped with the suction cup sole was tested by actual players, it resulted in major practical issues, such as "some players stopping too suddenly and stumbling."

The suction power of the octopus's suction cups was too strong, hindering the sport. From there, Onitsuka repeated mind-numbing trial and error, adjusting the depth, area, and placement of the suction cups by the millimeter. The ultimate balance of releasing the excessive suction power just enough to "stop firmly and take the next step smoothly." That tenacity for fine-tuning is the true essence of Japanese manufacturing (engineering).

The basketball shoes with the "suction cup sole" completed in this way became the catalyst for greatly increasing the reputation of Onitsuka Tiger.

5. Japanese tenacity is stuck to those soles

ASICS and Onitsuka Tiger sneakers. If you have them in your shoe rack, I want you to flip the sole over and take a look. (*Even today, this round pattern derived from the suction cup remains as a design on some reissue models and court-style shoes.)

If the American giant grabbed the earth with a "waffle," the Japanese giant stuck to the floor with an "octopus suction cup."

The Japanese craftsman's spirit that took a hint from a casual dinner side dish, overcame the failure of having too much grip, and carved out rubber bumps by the millimeter. For a man in his 40s to wear ASICS on his day off means more than just choosing a comfortable sneaker. It means equipping your soles with the gritty yet great "inspiration and tenacity" that supported Japan's post-war reconstruction.

If you happen to order octopus sashimi or vinegared octopus at an izakaya tonight, I hope you enjoy a superb drink with this trivia as your snack.