The Japanese word ikigai refers to a passion that gives joy to life (2022)

I've talked to a number of Japanese people about Ikigai, and they either didn't know about the Venn diagram, or thought it misrepresented the concept. It's the modern-day equivalent of "the Chinese word for crisis" [0]. But now it's unstoppable—I'm sure you can find pillows on Etsy with the diagram.

[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_word_for_crisis

Based on the article alone, you seem to be getting that from the Venn diagram. But the Venn diagram doesn’t attempt to define Ikigai. It’s a tool to help one find their own ikigai.

The definition of ikugai in the article does not include something you can be paid for.

My hot take is that the part that got lost in translation as it transitioned into a pithy airport bookstore business book is that it originally didn't have to be a single activity that covers all of the Venn diagram.

It is more about making sure the union of the Venn diagram is covered by one or more daily activities. So hobbies are about ensuring that you are not just focusing on the vocation circle.

I'm sure there are more. I recall tons of these posts, and am too lazy to search. It was, and I guess still is, a thing that people go back to over and over. I think it makes people feel good for no particular reason

That's not what it's trying to imply. It's saying that if you chose a job based on what the world needs and what you love doing, you're in the realm of completing a mission. Then you look at the diagram to see what you're missing to reach Ikigai. This is a very "glass half empty" look at a literal diagram lol.

You're not reading it right. The labels overlap, they are not disjoint.

> The diagram asserts that --- by definition --- you aren't good at your "mission,"

This is a misreading of the Venn diagram. Ikigai is the only section where Passion, Mission, Profession, and Vocation all intersect. The "Passion" etc sections are not bounded to the 2-layer overlaps where the labels sit, they extend into the 3 and 4-layer overlaps also.

But I'll grant you that the Venn diagram is crazy and overpacked.

There are a number of books about supposedly “unique” cultural phenomena like this one:

- Niksen (Dutch)

- Sisu (Finnish)

- Döstädning (Swedish)

- Lagom (Swedish)

- Réussir sans forcer (French)

- Raising Self-Reliant Children (German)

- Wabi Sabi (Japanese)

I wonder what other unique cultural concepts HN users have come across (perhaps from their own culture)?

> They’ve taken a word, declared it untranslatable and a unique component of Japanese culture.

Pretty sure this is foreigners who did this. On the other hand, a lot of Japanese are convinced they're living in the only country with 4 seasons.

To add to this, I would argue that ikigai can be directly translated to purpose in English. Sure purpose has additional meanings, and ikigai has a philosophy behind it which one word like “purpose” does not convey, but if you use purpose in a sentence that has something to do with how you find meaning in life and a reason to go on, then people will correctly understand your meaning.

If purpose is not good enough then try “a reason for being” “a reason to live” etc

Maybe people are confusing describing a whole philosophical concept with translating a word

If there was a massive push for "ikigai" either within Japan or outside of it, I totally missed it. To me, this looks one of those articles written by some random bureaucrat that no one really reads.

Regarding the article, there are indeed many words and phrases that can't really be translated to English. I don't think "ikigai" is one of them, though. It's called a purpose.

This is one of the reasons I didn't like "The Toyota Way" book. I have read it after I have been exposed to the theory of constraints and some other knowledge about production organization, and I was turned off about all the "mystery".

Same thing about meditation. Tried so many times and failed. Finally acquired the skill with a good self-hypnosis book. Appreciate the meditation/self-hypnosis ever after.

In both cases, I think highly about these ideas and practices, be it "ikigai" or "a reason for being", "muda" or "eliminating bottlenecks", "meditation" or "trance". Each person has their own way to understand these and either is fine when it works, but the artificial mysticism is disappointing.

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Yet, it is interesting to observe that "ikigai" needs several words to be translated to English. I suppose it reflects the the importance of the concept in the culture. Like the 50 eskimo words for snow.

Foreigners, especially journalists, do this in every article about Japan. Easy template:

____ the Japanese art of ____.

For example:

O-shiri-o-kaku the Japanese art of ass scratching.

They do it with thumb or something.

Japan suicide rate has decreased a lot, and is now almost the world average, it is actually lower than in the US and several European countries.

I agree however that this smells of orientialism. I don't speak anywhere fluently Japanese, but having lived there for 15 years, the only time I've seen or heard of the ikigai concept is in the "Book for foreigners" section.

It's a normal word/concept that everyone's familiar with.

As for career planning, I don't think it's very relevant. The sorta-equivalent sayings like "do what you love and you'll never work a day in your life!" tend to be used in a way that puts existing preferences and interests first, and everything else as a consequence of it. The way I'd think of "ikigai" in a career context, the work being meaningful (as in the opposite of a "bullshit job") is what comes first. Since it's meaningful, it's something the world needs, so you can get paid for it. Since it's the opposite of a bullshit job, you're motivated to devote the time and effort and attention to be(come) good at it. A job well-done is satisfying. So I'd envision it as something you settle into, rather than plan ahead with your guidance counselor equivalent.

It's also not necessarily a word specific to jobs/careers in the first place, and in a literal sense only means "I live for this" / "it's worth living for". The rest is a recent fixation by writers.

Most Japanese people do not use this term, and I'm fairly certain most Japanese people don't even really know the word. This is one of those "Big in Japan" things, except, uh, "Big outside Japan".

Source: live in Japan, have asked Japanese people around me if they know about this concept (that is popular in USA). Usually hear: へ〜、全然知らない。

It's a normal term, but I'm not familiar with it being used like this. This does smell like a "self improvement" marketing push.

The Japanese Wikipedia article seems to heavily cite Western sources as the origin for this usage.

https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%94%9F%E3%81%8D%E7%94%B2%E6...

Back in reality, the word is more commonly used in the expression 生き甲斐がある (ikigai ga aru) which means roughly "Life is good", "I'm glad to be alive", which you might use after sipping a really good beer for example.

No. It's just lifestyle marketing.