Episode 4 Article

04: "Messages" about you is always leaking out



Armatures in psychology think: “If I stay silent, then I am not letting anything out.”

In this world, no matter how we humans keep our mouth shut, “messages” would still inevitably seeps out from everywhere. Of course, we never know we let those messages slip.

This time, Akiyama’s “reading” was perfectly correct again.

Fukunaga planned to seize everything from everyone else, and get the full 2.1 billion yen for himself, but, Akiyama saw through that.

In short, Akiyama, noticed how Fukunaga secretively tried to make 2 other teams.
Akiyama said. “Try to remember what happened yesterday in the game.”

“It was very weird! On the first day, everyone was so nervous, but when the game started, they all looked so calm. It was as if, they were all convinced they were safe already.”

“The most obvious hint came, when the losers had to leave the room.”

“As we all know, losing here earns you a 100 million yen debt. Naturally, it wouldn’t be surprising at all, even if people flip or start to cry. But everybody left the room quietly, without a word of complaint."

So! Akiyama was observing everyone’s actions. This is “man watching”. Certainly, no one would say secrets out loud. However, their actions and behaviors, can also effectively expose their secrets.

In this manner, gestures and means beyond words express information, this is called “non-verbal communication,” or “body language”.

Clothing, accessories, belongings, colors, body stature, hair style, make up, expression, eyes direction, posture, manner, gestures, action, how you distance yourself from others, voice tones… these are all clues, and they all communicate information about you.

Therefore, no matter how you keep a secret quiet, your “body” is still carelessly revealing the secret.

That’s why, experienced police would not overlook the slightest nervousness or suspicious actions. In the same way, in a job interview, by reading that person’s body language, employer can get a feel of that person’s distinctive personality. So, our body, really talks a lot.

Well, that suggests that there are no ways to really prepare for that problem. However, let me provide you with some measures you can take in response.

In short “attack is the best defense”. There’s a limit to how much you can keep others from grasping those [non-verbal] information, keep yourself from sending body languages, or increase your defense. Compare to this, on the other hand, proactively sending out information is more effective.

For example, in an interview, you can make your clothing speaks for you, make your posture speaks for you, let your gestures, your expression speak for you in a positive manner. Use body language to your advantage. Life is a play. And when you
act, you can make fools gold turn into gold.

As Akiyama suggests, “If you really want to fool us, maybe you should have made them act their parts too,” in life truths can be hidden away.

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Episode 3 Article

03: Can you escape from being in a "group"?
Edited one line that I got very wrong. OTZ

"Minority rule!" Isn’t that a very spectacular development?

Can you remember Leronira’s speech at the closing of episode 2?

“Everyone, you all know about majority rule, right? That is used in making decision in meetings and elections. In the modern era where democracy is widespread, decisions are indeed made by majority rule. Usually, the majority gets to lead, and the minority bears a disadvantage.”

“However…, the game you will now play, is the complete opposite!”

“Majority dies, and minority survives… It’s “minority rule” game!”

Tyranny of the majority, the strong exploiting the weak, to those of us disgusted with majority rule, this [game] is like a soothing cup of tea. This is uncompromising spirit, this is what we call “being rebellious”… Is that really true?

Ultimately, our anti-hero Akiyama is the sharpest!

Minority rule, as Akiyama noticed is simply “majority rule” in disguise in the end. By “reversing” twice you end up going around full circle, that is to say that you can turn an impossible minority rule [situation] into an accomplishable majority rule [situation].

That's correct, normal “majority faction endeavor” (increasing the number of supporters) compare to, “minority faction endeavor” (decreasing the number of supporters) do not seem all that similar. However, that’s only if we think of this as an individual-centered activity. If a few people form a team, and beforehand set rules and vote repeatedly in a logical fashion, then “someone” on the team would always get to stay for the next round! It doesn’t matter if you win individually, in the end it only matters if you win as a team. That’s what Akiyama discovered.

This is again, in some sense “majority faction endeavor” in work.

With great pain to those who wishes to oppose majority rule [with this game], by visualizing a reversal you can see, this is probably just an “empty dream” (what cannot be realized).

Nonetheless, humans are made to be “social animals”, in other words, we are creatures that can collaborate with one another. Even if an individual is weak, when a few people work together, they can still become very powerful. In truth, in primitive environment, humans formed groups for better survival, now, it is clear that even though everything has advanced, groups are still flourishing.

That is the reason why majority rule exists.

Now, I think everyone would agree, tyranny of majority is always a risk, and we want to beat it, to the brothers and sisters with that sort of uncompromising spirit, there is good news.

That is, the means of using majority has changed through out human history, at the same time things have changed so that in some situations “minority faction lead majority faction,” this is reality.

In the beginning, you are a one person minority, you are weak and helpless, then somehow you gain supporters, and when you realize you have become a majority, you can finally get your victory.

If you study human history carefully, you would find many examples of “minorities becoming majorities.”

In any case, even if we don’t talk about history and other significant events like that, this is exactly what Akiyama did in this round of “Liar Game”.

In the beginning, Akiyama was the only one who thought of this “guaranteed win method”. At that time he could be seen as a minority. Then, Nao agreed with him, and his supporters increased one by one, eventually, a majority was formed and he had total control over this situation.

We humans, are not just social animals, we are also capable of sharing our ideas, we are animals that communicate with each other. It’s because we can analyze and understand what is right, I believe that in the near future, we can change the usage of “majority and minority” for the better.

People, there is no reason to feel embarrassed because you are a minority.

Be true to yourself and live [the way you want to live].

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Episode 2 Article

02: "Lion or Zebra" which one are you?


Finally, Akiyama showed his ability as a genius swindler! He cornered Fujizawa, the man who cheated the very honest Nao of 100 million. Akiyama was very self-assured and calm, and when he heard Fujizawa’s winning strategy…. He laughed.

But, wait a minute, no matter how you look at the situation, the person with the undisputable advantage is Fujizawa. The 200 million is sitting in his sturdy safe, all he needed to do was wait for the end of the game and he would have won. Yet, it was Fujizawa who was frightened, anxious, and completely paranoid.

Why is that?

That is because Fujizawa was “the prey” while Akiyama was “the preditor.”

Imagine a lion and a zebra running on grassland, both are going at full speed. Yet, while the lion is chasing a prey, the zebra is running for his life. Who do you think is happier?

In other words, having to defend the 200 million dollars he acquired, Fujizawa was the zebra being chased in spirit by Akiyama and Nao. That’s why he was constantly tortured by fear and paranoia.

Because Akiyama confidently declared he would take the 200 million, doubts took roots in Fujizawa, and he began to wonder, “Can there really be a way [to steal the money] that I have not considered?” Once that happened, as Akiyama predicted with “cognitive dissonance”, Fujizawa began to find irrational explanations to everything. Akiyama and Nao’s story shows that “evidence” (?) created by “anxiety” can make anxiety even worse.

Now, when can Fujizawa be cornered?

In the end, how will Akiyama finish off Fujizawa?

Right, in life, you can easily change from a lion into a zebra. It’s all about attitude.

Of course, there are situations where you cannot avoid being a zebra. For example, it is very good to run away from lions-like events (disasters), in psychology, this is called “avoidance (evasive actions).” The consequences to disasters and such are great, so avoidance is a splendid ability.




The rest is kind of boring to me… so I am just going to give a summary of the rest of the article:

We learn from experience. If you run away from everything and be submissive about everything in life, “avoidance” would become your habit. In that case, you would no longer know how to “chase,” and when a good opportunity comes along you would habitually let the opportunity slip.

If you don’t want to be a zebra for life, then be proactive, make “chasing” a habit. Chase your dreams! Live for “happiness.” If you know what makes you happy and pursue that, you can endure any hardship.

Miracles will not happen if you don’t take the first step.

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Episode 1 Article

01: Even you can fall for "type panic" swindling


Finally, the story of “stupidly honest” Nao and “genius swindler” Akiyama’s adventure begins.

We will take a look at first episode, at those that can “embrace deceptions”. The nice elders of this country (not only them, but most suffering from phone frauds are lonely elders), can easily “embrace deception”! Akiyama plans to use this to save Nao.

I will leave it to the show to explain how he does that.

Anyway, no matter how much media cover well known fraud cases, many will still fall for the same tricks. Seeing that many people shakes their head.

“Didn’t they read the news paper and watch the news?” “If those elders are stupid enough to get deceived, they deserve it.”

In short, increasingly, “normal adults” are think there’s no way they can be deceived by scams they heard of before.

Yet, there is still a considerable probability that people who normally have sound judgment would fall for those tricks. You are not different.

The secret of “embracing deception” is that, first, “panic” robs victims of their normal reasoning ability. After their judgment is impaired, they quite willingly extend a “helping hand.”

Try to imagine, your close relative, suddenly become involved in an accident. Your cute grandchild crashed his car into someone, got caught by the police, and now faces a huge compensation payment. Oh, by the way, it looks like he can’t avoid jail…

When faced with this sort of situation, everyone would panic.

When people panic, their common sense drops by half. When we say panic, we are talking about the over-excitement of brain cell induced by emergencies. You would think if your brain cells are that active in that state, you would be more capable than normal, but in reality, it’s the opposite. What get demonstrated instead are things like “idiocy during a fire,” where things you can do very easily suddenly become very hard. This has been proven by many psychology experiments.

That’s why many deaths in fires and other catastrophes are caused by people not noticing the closest exit, and instead head to a farther exit thus increasing their exposure to danger. If it had been a normal situation, those people would have been able to make the right judgment.



The rest of the write up is kind of boring so I am just going to translate in a very concise manner… You should get the idea:

There are ways to fight panic.
1) Talk to others.
2) Practice staying calm.
3) Relax.

And to close off the write up… this psychiatrist advertised Liar Game by telling you to relax by watching Liar Game with friends and family. Lol.

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About Articles

These articles are published on the official Liar Game web site in a section called Dr. Tomita's Psychology Lesson. They are written by a psychology professor called Dr. Tomita.

Each article is posted on the web page a few days before the corresponding episode is aired.

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