This book first came into being on a rainy night in TOKYO, when its authors sat down together for first time in one of the city’s Bars.
we had read each other’s work but had never met, thanks to the thousands of miles the separate Barcelona from the capital of Japan. Then a mutual acquaintance put us in touch, launching a friendship that led to this project and seems destined to last a lifetime.
The next time we got together, a year later, we strolled through a park in downtown Tokyo and ended up talking about trends in western psychology, specifically logotherapy, which helps people find their purpose in life.
We remarked that Viktor Frankl’s logotherapy had gone out of fashion among practicing therapists, who favored other schools of psychology, though people still search for meaning in what the do and how they live. We ask ourselves things like:
What is the meaning of my life?
Is the point just to live longer, or should I seek a higher purpose?
Why do some people know what they want and have a passion for life, while others languish in confusion?
At some point in our conversation, the mysterious word ikigai came up.
This Japanese concept, which translates roughly as “the happiness of always being busy,” is like logotherapy, but it goes a step beyond. It also seems to be one way of explaining the extraordinary longevity of the Japanese, especially on the island of Okinawa, where there are 24.55 people over age 100 for every 100000 inhabitants– far more than the global average. Those who study why the inhabitants of this island in the south of Japan live longer than people anywhere else in the world believe that one of the keys– in addition to a healthful diet, a simple life in the outdoors, green tea, and the subtropical climate(its average temperature is like that of Hawaii)– is the ikigai that shapes their lives.
While researching this concept, we discovered that a single book in the field of psychology of personal development is dedicated to bringing this philosophy to the west.
Is ikigai the reason there are more centenarians in Okinawa than anywhere else? How does it inspire the people to stay active until the very end? What is the secret to a long and happy life?
As we explored the matter further, we discovered that one place in particular, Ogimi, a rural town on the north end of the island with a population of three thousand, boasts the highest life expectancy in the world– a fact that has earned it the nickname the Village of Longevity.
Okinawa is where most of Japan’s shikuwasa– a limelike fruit that packs an extraordinary antioxidant punch–comes from. Could that be Ogimi’s secret to long live? Or is it the purity of the water used to brew its Moringa tea?
We decided to go study the secrets of Japanese centenarians in person. After a year of preliminary research we arrived in the village–where residents speak an ancient dialect and practice an animist religion that feature long haired forest sprites called bunagaya– with our cameras and recording devices in hand. As soon as we arrived we could sense the incredible friendliness of its residents, who laughed and joked incessantly amid lush green hills fed by crystalline waters.
As we conducted our interviews with the eldest residents of the town, we realized that something far more powerful than just these natural resources was at work: an uncommon joy flows from its inhabitants and guides them through the long and pleasurable journey of their lives.
Again, the mysterious ikigai.
But what is it, exactly? How do you get it?
It never ceased to surprise us that haven of nearly eternal life was located precisely in Okinawa, where two hundred thousand innocent lives were lost at the end of World war 2. Rather than harbor animosity toward outsiders, however, Okinawans live by the principle of ichariba chode, a local expression that means “treat everyone like a brother, even if you’ve never met them before.”
It turns out that one of the secrets to happiness of Ogimi’s residents is feeling like part of a community. From an early age they practice Yuimaaru, or teamwork, and so are used to helping one another.
Nurturing friendships, eating light, getting enough rest, and doing regular, moderate exercise are all part of the equation of good health, but at the heart of the joie de vivre that inspires these centenarians to keep celebrating birthdays and cherishing each new day is their ikigai.
The purpose of this book is to bring the secrets of Japan’s centenarians to you and give you the tools to find your own ikigai.
Because those who discover their ikigai have everything they need for a long and joyful journey through life.
Happy travels!
HE’CTOR GARCI’A AND FRANCESE MIRALLES
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The art of staying young while growing old
what is your reason for being?
According to the Japanese, everyone has an ikigai– What a French philosopher might call a raison d’etre. Some people have found their ikigai, while other are still looking, though they carry it within them.
Our ikigai is hidden deep inside each of us, and finding it requires a patient search. According to those born on Okinawa, the island with the most centenarians in the world, our ikigai is the reason we get up in the morning.
Whatever you do, don’t retire!
Having a clearly defined ikigai brings satisfaction, happiness, and meaning to our lives. The purpose of this book is to help you find yours, and to share insight from Japanese philosophy on the lasting health of body, mind, and spirit.
One surprising thing you notice, living in Japan , is how active people remain after they retire. In fact, many Japanese people never really retire– they keep doing what they love for as long as their health allows.
There is in fact no word in Japanese that means retire in sense of “leaving the workforce for good” as in English. According to Dan Buettner, a National Geographic reporter who knows the country well, having a purpose in life is so important in Japanese culture that our idea for retirement simply doesn’t exist there.
The island of (almost) eternal youth
Certain longevity studies suggest that a strong sense of community and a clearly defined ikigai are just as important as the famously healthful Japanese diet– perhaps even more so. Recent medical studies of centenarians from Okinawa and other so called Blue Zones– the geographic regions where people live longest — provide a number of interesting fact about these extraordinary human beings:
- Not only do they live much longer than the rest of the world’s population, they also suffer from fewer chronic illnesses such as cancer and heart disease; inflammatory disorders are also less common.
- Many of these centenarians enjoy enviable levels of vitality and health that would be unthinkable for people of advanced age elsewhere.
- Their blood test reveal fewer free radicals (which are responsible for cellular aging), as a result of drinking tea and eating until their stomachs are only 80 percent full.
- Women experience more moderate symptoms during menopause, and both men and women maintain higher level of sexual hormones until much later in life.
- The rate of dementia is well below the global average.
Through we will consider each of these finding over the course of the book, research clearly indicates that the Okinawans focus on ikigai gives a sense of purpose to each and every day and plays an important role in their health and longevity.
The Five Blue Zones
Okinawa holds first place among the world’s Blue zones. In Okinawa, women in particular live longer and have fewer diseases than anywhere else in the world. The Five regions identified and analyzed by Dan Buettner in his book The Blue Zone are:
- Okinawa, Japan (especially the northern part of the island). The locals eat a diet rich in vegetables and tofu typically served on small plates. In addition to their philosophy of ikigai, the moai, or close knit group of friends (see page 15), plays an important role in their longevity.
- Sardinia, Italy(specifically the provinces of Nuoro and Ogiliastra ). Locals on this island consume plenty of vegetables and one ore two glass of wines per day. As Okinawa, the cohesive nature of this community is another factor directly related to longevity.
- Loma Linda, California. Researchers studied a group of seventh day Adventists who are among the longest living people in the United states.
- The Nicoya Peninsula, Cosa Rica. Locals remain remarkably active after ninety; many of the regions older resident have no problem getting up at five thirty in the morning to work in the fields.
- Ikaria, Greece. One of every three inhabitants of this island near the coast of Turkey is over ninety years old(compared to less than 1 percent of the population of the United States) a fact that has earned it the nickname the Island of Long Life. The local secret seems to be a lifestyle that dates back to 500 BC.
