Ikigai of Japanese - Book Review)

Okinawa is an island in the south of Japan. In this area, there are more centenarians than anywhere else in the world. Centenarians are the people who have reached 100 years of their age. On the island of Okinawa, there are approximately 24.55 people who are centenarians for every 100,000 inhabitants. Further, there is a rural town on the north end of the island with a population of three thousand and the world's highest life expectancy. This rural town is Ogimi and it has earned the nickname of "the Village of Longevity."

According to the researchers, the major key point in addition to a healthy diet, green tea, simple life in the outdoors, and the subtropical climate is the "ikigai", which makes Okinawa people live longer than people anywhere else in the world. Ikigai is a Japanese concept roughly translated as "the pleasure of always being busy." It is like logotherapy (which helps people find purpose in their lives), but it goes further than just that. To explore it more, Hector Garcia and Francesc Miralles, visited the Village of Longevity and documented their findings in the book "Ikigai; The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life".

The book is meticulously divided into nine chapters starting with describing and explaining the definition of ikigai by practicing which, a person can learn the art of staying young while growing older. It also tells little things that the authors believe are the antiaging secrets that add up to a long and happy life, shedding some light on Logotherapy to Ikigai intended to help readers find their purpose in lives and living longer and better. They have also included short interviews from the longest-living people in the world which they believe are the words of wisdom from the longest-living people. In another chapter, they stressed finding the flow in everything which can turn work and free time into spaces for the growth of readers. To help the readers more, they have also added the Diet patterns that the world's longest-living people follow as well as the exercises from that area that promote health and longevity.

The book is dedicated to the philosophy of ikigai and the practices and daily activities that Japanese do while following that ikigai. This is why it is a general book that includes everything in it unlike the books especially dedicated to philosophies, social relationships, diets, or exercises. It includes an introduction and a slight explanation of all of these. We can say it is a refresher to your self-help concepts by reading all those points that you might have read in other self-help books also but you will read all those by the examples of Japanese people in this book.

The key takeaways from the book are:

1.      Finding the Purpose: Ikigai is the intersection of what you're good at, what you love, what the world needs, what you can be paid for, and what you can do.

2.      Longevity and Happiness: As the book shares insights from Japan's Okinawa Island, known for its high percentage of centenarians.

3.      Japanese Philosophies: Concepts like wabi-sabi (acceptance of imperfection), mottainai (gratitude), and yutori (living with ease) are explored.

4.      Practical Advice: The authors provide exercises and stories to help readers discover their ikigai.

The main message from this book is to stay active until the last years, doing everything slowly, gradually, and mindfully, eating up to 80 percent of your capacity, surrounding yourself with good friends, doing moderate exercises to get in shape and stay active, wearing a smile and having a cheerful attitude, reconnecting yourselves with nature, practicing gratitude by giving thanks to your ancestors, nature, friends and family, and everything that brightens your day and to find purpose, happiness, and fulfillment by embracing your passions, skills, and values; follow your ikigai.