01.Find Your Ikigai: Everyone has a personal "ikigai" that gives their life meaning and purpose. It is often found at the intersection of what you love, what you're good at, what the world needs, and what you can be paid for. Identifying your ikigai helps you live a more fulfilled life.

Find Your Ikigai

04.Surround Yourself with a Strong Community: Social connections are crucial for a happy and long life. People in communities with high life expectancies, such as the residents of Okinawa, value supportive relationships and spend time with loved ones regularly.

Surround Yourself with a Strong Community

02.Stay Active and Never Retire: Keeping yourself mentally and physically active is essential for longevity. In Japanese culture, the idea of retirement is less prominent because people continue to contribute to society or engage in fulfilling activities for as long as they can.

Stay Active and Never Retire

03.Embrace Simplicity: Leading a simple, uncluttered life helps in reducing stress and maintaining mental clarity. Practicing mindfulness, finding joy in small things, and focusing on what's truly important can improve well-being.

Embrace Simplicity

05.Adopt a Healthy Lifestyle: A balanced lifestyle that includes moderate physical activity, a nutritious diet (especially rich in vegetables and plant-based foods), and avoiding excess is key to health and longevity. The residents of Okinawa, often cited in the book, live by the saying "hara hachi bu," meaning to eat until you're 80% full, promoting mindful eating habits.

Adopt a Healthy Lifestyle

The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life is a popular book by Héctor García and Francesc Miralles. It explores the Japanese concept of ikigai, which refers to a sense of purpose or reason for being.

INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER • 1.5 MILLION+ COPIES SOLD WORLDWIDE “Workers looking for more fulfilling positions should start by identifying their ikigai.” ―Business Insider   “One of the unintended—yet positive—consequences of the [pandemic] is that it is forcing people to reevaluate their jobs, careers, and lives. Use this time wisely, find your personal ikigai, and live your best life.” ―Forbes Find your ikigai (pronounced ee-key-guy) to live longer and bring more meaning and joy to all your days. “Only staying active will make you want to live a hundred years.” —Japanese proverb   According to the Japanese, everyone has an ikigai—a reason for living. And according to the residents of the Japanese village with the world’s longest-living people, finding it is the key to a happier and longer life. Having a strong sense of ikigai—where what you love, what you’re good at, what you can get paid for, and what the world needs all overlap—means that each day is infused with meaning. It’s the reason we get up in the morning. It’s also the reason many Japanese never really retire (in fact there’s no word in Japanese that means retire in the sense it does in English): They remain active and work at what they enjoy, because they’ve found a real purpose in life—the happiness of always being busy. In researching this book, the authors interviewed the residents of the Japanese village with the highest percentage of 100-year-olds—one of the world’s Blue Zones. Ikigai reveals the secrets to their longevity and happiness: how they eat, how they move, how they work, how they foster collaboration and community, and—their best-kept secret—how they find the ikigai that brings satisfaction to their lives. And it provides practical tools to help you discover your own ikigai. Because who doesn’t want to find happiness in every day?

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Hector Garcia was born in Spain in 1981 and has been living in Tokyo since 2004. During his spare time he writes aGeekinJapan.com, one of the most widely-read blogs in the world in Spanish and in English, as well as books about his experiences in Japan. He is the author of the bestsellers: Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life and A Geek in Japan. You can find more of Hector's musings at ageekinjapan.com

Héctor García

Francesc Miralles Contijoch is a Catalan writer, essayist, translator, and musician.

Find Your Ikigai

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