Hasegawa points out that in English, the word life means both lifetime and everyday life. So, ikigai translated as life's purpose sounds very grand. "But in Japan we have jinsei, which means lifetime and seikatsu, which means everyday life," he says. The concept of ikigai aligns more to seikatsu and, through his research, Hasegawa discovered that Japanese people believe that the sum of small joys in everyday life results in more fulfilling life as a whole.

Jinsei vs. Seikatsu

But, knowing your ikigai alone is not enough. Simply put, you need an outlet. Ikigai is "purpose in action," he says. For 92-year-old Tomi Menaka, her ikigai is to dance and sing with her peers in the KBG84 dance troupe, she told the <a href="https://mainichi.jp/articles/20151226/dde/041/070/041000c">Mainichi newspaper </a>. For others, it might be work itself. In a culture where the value of the team supercedes the individual, Japanese workers are driven by being useful to others, being thanked, and being esteemed by their colleagues, says Toshimitsu Sowa, CEO of HR consulting firm Jinzai Kenkyusho.

Outlet

For Japanese workers in big cities, a typical work day begins with a state called sushi-zum e, a term which likens commuters squeezed into a crowded train car to tightly packed grains of rice in sushi. The stress doesn't stop there.

Ikigai: A Japanese concept to improve work and life

A Frost