The stress doesn't stop there. The country's notorious work culture ensures most people put in long hours at the office, governed by strict hierarchical rules. Overwork is not uncommon and the last trains home on weekdays around midnight are filled with people in suits. How do they manage?

Japan has some of the longest-living citizens in the world -<a href="http://www.sankei.com/life/news/170301/lif1703010080-n1.html">87 years for women and 81 for men </a>, according to the country's Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare. Could this concept of ikigai contribute to longevity? Author Dan Buettner believes it does. He's the author of Blue Zones: Lessons on Living Longer from the People Who've Lived the Longest, and has travelled the globe exploring long-lived communities around the world, which he calls " <a href="https://bluezones.com/books">blue zones </a>". One such zone is Okinawa, a remote island with a remarkably high number of centenarians. While <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7250675.stm">a unique diet </a>likely has a lot to do with residents' longevity, Buettner says ikigai also plays a part.

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

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