Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life by Héctor García and Francesc Miralles

The Book in 3 Sentences

• The book argues that the reason why Japanese people live the longest in the world is because of their Ikigai.
• The book argues that everybody has their Ikigai and suggests some practical ways that people can become aware of their Ikigai.
• The view of the book is based on the findings from interviews the authors conducted with Japanese centenarians in Okinawa.

Impressions

How Did I Discover It?

My former colleague from Swiss told me he was enjoying the book on his trip to Japan and he asked me if I had my Ikigai. I could not answer straight away and ended up questioning what the word Ikigai that I’ve been using all these years living in Japan means after all.

Who Should Read It?

I would recommend this book to those who are wondering what the typical life is like in Japan and why Japanese people do things the way they do.

How the Book Changed Me

The fact that a book about Ikigai sells so much worldwide makes me wonder if people today are needing help in having hope in their lives.

• I mean the “centenarians’ secrets” described in the book are not exactly the groundbreaking discoveries of the century but rather common facts about health, which the health-conscious probably have been exposed to here and there.
• Because of this, I suppose not all of the readers want to learn the centenarians’ secrets so that they can live long, but many of them simply want to know how they can find a reason to get themselves out of bed in the morning, in other words, they are lost and wondering why they are living.

Although the authors did not mention much in the book, I would also argue the reason why Japanese people seem to be more aware of their Ikigai lies greatly in the fact that Japan is not a religious country.

• Since they are not born with the purposes of their lives handed to them, unlike the religious, they have to do the searching themselves. They are more likely to have questioned the purpose of living and have struggled to find a clear answer. It’s this level of exposure to the challenge that makes them the Ikigai masters.
• In this sense, I regard the recent rise of Oshi-katsu in Japan as one of the resulting phenomena from the irreligiousness of the country. “Oshi” comes from the Japanese word “Osu”, which means promotion. People call it “Oshi-katsu” when they celebrate the lives of their favorite idols and characters — going to live performances, buying and making goods, or talking about them on SNS. It seems to me that by Oshi-katsu, they are telling themselves they are doing something of great value thus, it is logically feeding them the point of their lives. I wrote a piece to discuss this further.

My Top 3 Quotes

• “He who has a why to live for can bear with almost any how.”
• The happiest people are not the ones who achieve the most. They are the ones who spend more time than others in a state of flow.
• Life is not a problem to be solved. Just remember to have something that keeps you busy doing what you love while being surrounded by the people who love you.