Book Review — IKIGAI

Book Title — IKIGAI — The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life.

Authors — Hector Garcia and Francese Miralles

Genre — Non-fiction (Lifestyle)

What is the book about — The word IKIGAI is a Japanese concept that means “a reason for being” i.e. the direction or purpose of life, the yearning of which keeps us moving and alive. The book is all about how to find your IKIGAI and live a purposeful long life.

What events happen/are discussed in the book — The authors were awestricken with the fact that there are 24.55 people over the age of 100 for every 1,00,000 inhabitants, well above the global average. In search of this secret of extraordinary longevity of the Japanese residents, especially on the island of Okinawa the authors decide to go and study the secrets of the Japanese centenarians in person. Their in-person experiences and thorough research ended up with this book which opens up secrets of long and peaceful living.

What attracted me to this book — The COVID statistics, yeah really, I am not joking. Check these stats as of 10.07.2020 –

· Japan’s ranking in World Population — 11th (12,64,76,461)

· Japan’s ranking in Average/median age of people (High to low) — 2nd (Average age of residents is 49 years)

· The only country to have experienced two atomic attacks in 1945.

· COVID 19 Active cases ranking — 56th

· COVID 19 total deaths ranking — 40th

In spite of being most vulnerable to COVID, Japan has managed to be consistently better than most of the developing countries in the world. This was an experience worth buying.

Subject — This book starts with the Japanese proverb “Only staying active will make you want to live a hundred years”. The book is an eye opener and navigates us to the ideal way of living. It starts with focus on the art of staying young while growing old. It magnifies the little things that add up to a long and happy life by stressing upon the necessity of finding the purpose to live. It describes how we can turn our work and free time into productive spaces for growth without additional stress-taking. The book also shares the life-experiences of longest-living people in the world and their secrets i.e. their food habits, their lifestyle, their values, etc. It reads aloud the traditions and proverbs and the self-guided exercises from the East that promote health and longevity. It provides the directions on how to face life’s challenges without stressing oneself.

I was particularly impressed by the following facts in the book –

· “Retirement” is no word in the Japanese dictionary, their people never retire.

· All of the centenarians interviewed grew their own food.

· They believe in “Hara Hachibu” which means “Fill your belly to 80 %”.

· Their faith in Resilience. Fall seven times, rise eight.

· Their inclination to Yoga/exercises and meditation.

· Their belief of looking for beauty in things which are flawed or incomplete.

· Their opposition to multi-tasking (belief in concentrating on one job at a time).

Conclusion — The book, the intention behind it and the potential it possesses to change our way of living, deserves 4 out of 5 on my liking scale. I would recommend this book to all those people, who silently admit that their lifestyle needs uplift and a change towards the greater good. It is an ideal book to read when you are on a leave and home-alone because it will place you on a comfortable mode of introspection.

Bibliography –

· IKIGAI, the book.

· Wikipedia.org

· Worldometers.info