7 Eye-Opening Japanese Concepts for Life Transformation
Make them an anchor whenever you feel low in life.
Japan is an incredible country that has a lot to offer. From unique culture, natural beauty, fancy cars, and futuristic toilets, the list goes on and on. The life-transforming Japanese concepts are the cherry on top. They’re essential to find peace and happiness in today’s fast-moving and chaotic life.
After all, Japan has the second-highest life expectancy rate. They must be doing something different, right? My curiosity to learn the Japanese lifestyle and culture began when I started reading the book Ikigai.
Later, I discovered besides Ikigai, plenty of other Japanese concepts are their secret to longevity. They also allow people to see life in a different light. The best part is anyone in any part of the world can adopt these Japanese concepts to improve their life.
So, if you’re feeling low or struggling to lift yourself up in life, you need to read this. These principles have everything you need to start afresh and leverage this beautiful life.
We’ve made life complicated for ourselves by always chasing something or the other. There’s nothing wrong with having desires or goals, but ultimately we all want to be happy.
The secret sauce is appreciating small things in life while working on our dreams, and these 7 Japanese concepts will help you achieve this mindset.
1. Ikigai aka reason for being
The term “Ikigai” is derived from two Japanese words, ‘Iki’ means “life” and ‘gai’ (originally “kai”) refers to “value” or “worth.” According to the book Ikigai, “It’s the happiness of always being busy”.
The Japanese philosophy of Ikigai was originally about finding your true happiness. In a modern interpretation, it serves as a tool to find your dream career. The people of Okinawa Island believe it’s their reason to get up every morning.
You can use it as a guiding force that tells you about what you’re meant to do by aligning your passion with what the world needs today.
How to practice the Japanese concept of longevity
Every person has an ikigai. All you need to do is find it for yourself by aligning your passion, strengths, and values with the need of the hour.
Ask yourself these 4 questions to find your Ikigai:
What do you love doing?
What you’re good at?
What you can be paid for?
What does the world need?
Mark Winn presents these questions through a Venn diagram that helps find that “sweet spot” where your passion, vocation, profession, and mission intersect. That very spot represents your Ikigai.
2. Wabi-sabi
Do you often struggle to take the next step or start something new because your basic tendency is to chase perfection? Does fear of failure stop you from executing your plans? If you’re nodding by now, this Japanese concept of beauty, aka wabi-sabi, is for you to live by.
Wabi-Sabi is about reminding ourselves that everything in this life is temporary, so there’s no sense in chasing perfection. Instead, we must try to find the beauty in simplicity and make the most of the present moment, for that’s all we’ve got.
Wabi-sabi is an intrinsic aspect of traditional Japanese aesthetics focused on simplicity and rustic beauty. It’s applied in their cultural ceremonies, architecture, and art.
Today everyone is obsessed with a perfect lifestyle, body shape, house, partner and whatnot. This obsession comes from external pressures, social media, and fear of missing out. It takes a toll on people’s mental health and social lives and keeps them from living fully.
Practise Wabi-sabi to embrace life as it is in the best possible way:
a. Focus on the present moment by embracing all aspects of your life journey.
b. Shift your focus from perfection to excellence that comes by taking the first step.
c. Learn to make the most of what you already have instead of begrudging.
d. Embrace all the ups & downs and wins & losses, for they only make everyone’s journey unique and beautiful.
e. Make resilience your superpower by extracting learning from a mistake.
3. Shinrin- yoku: Forest bathing
Connecting with nature: Shinrin-yoku
The simple act of spending time in nature is known as shinrin-yoku. It’s the most relevant Japanese concept to improve life by re-establishing our lost connection with nature. According to an EPA-sponsored 2001 study, an average American spend 83% of their time indoors and 6% in a closed vehicle.
Leading this intense indoor lifestyle has made humans less mindful of sustainable practices that protect the environment. It rarely gives us time to unplug from technology and the hustle of life. Here Shinrin-yoku comes into the picture as a free and accessible therapeutic antidote.
Dr Qing Li also reported tangible health benefits of forest bathing in his recent study. It improves sleep quality, elevates mood, enhances focus, reduces blood pressure, stress levels, etc.
This also helps you do a digital detox which we all need to experience.
Shinrin-yoku is one of the incredible Japanese concepts that encourage spending time in nature mindfully, by actively involving all the five senses.
It’s all about absorbing the serenity of nature that promotes mental, physical, and spiritual well-being.
Find an ideal spot surrounded by trees, water, and mountains, ideally, a forest. But if you’re in a city, a nearby park will also do
Carry out only the essentials and no digital devices.
Spend time walking and soaking in the natural beauty around.
Go slow and feel the breeze against your skin, listen to the birds chirping, dry leaves crushing under your feet.
Observe tiny details like the sunlight entering through the canopy, patterns of leaves, climbers, etc.
Smell the aroma of the moist soil and blooming flowers.
If you’re with a guide, consult them before touching a plant or tasting fruits or edible leaves.
4. Ma: The negative space
Cherish the present moment: Ma- the negative space
It’s a philosophical Japanese concept that signifies physical space or gap between the beginning and end. Ma has been a part of Japanese art, design, and architecture in the minimalist Tatami homes in Japan.
The idea behind this concept goes beyond minimalism or decluttering, for Ma also represents a pause in time or emptiness in space. It’s about allowing yourself to appreciate the stillness that our fast-moving generation is forgetting.
We’re always running from task to task, consuming information, and filling the remaining time with social media or other digital distractions. We all must replace this urgency to always be busy by appreciating the stillness of the present moment.
The principle of Ma is also a way of socializing for the Japanese. Be it in their deliberate long pause while bowing before someone to convey respect and true feelings. Or while having a conversation or making a thoughtful decision that isn’t a conclusion of rushed thoughts.
Practising Ma allows you to contemplate thoughts in silence and is considered sophisticated in Japanese culture. It enhances your intellectual and intuitive sense. This way Ma is also a physical manifestation of spirituality.
So, the next time you’re alone and free, appreciate that moment rather than filling it with random social media scrolling, or
Hold hugs for a bit longer, and have deliberate eye contact while shaking hands,
Take time before jumping to conclusions or
Listen actively and calmly to respond and have a meaningful conversation.
5. Kaizen: Japanese concept of business
Kenizen is all about continuous improvement
The word root of Kaizen” consists of two Japanese terms, ‘kai’ means ‘change’ and ‘zen’ is ‘good’. It’s a progressive approach of taking smaller consistent steps that compound over time to bring a substantial change or improvement.
In the present day and age, Kaizen is an undervalued concept because of its steady and slow nature. It’s a subtle yet employee-friendly way to bring improvement within an organization. This philosophy serves as the basis for thriving Japanese businesses like Toyota. Let’s find out how.
It allows everyone in the team to adapt to a changed environment without making radical transformations. Kaizen empowers everyone to identify gaps or inefficiencies in the existing systems.
The core belief behind Kaizen is that everything has a scope for improvement, and nothing is the status quo.
This helps bring innovative solutions aimed at improving the ongoing processes and systems. Be it in productivity, effectiveness, or safety standards.
A few more benefits of this Japanese business philosophy are :
active team contribution, improved employee and customer satisfaction, enhanced retention,
better problem-solving approach lesser errors, and reduced waste of time, resources, and effort.
All in all, everything a business needs not only to survive but to thrive.
Here are a few practical steps for you to practise Kaizen within your organization:
Follow the basic PDCA model, i.e. Plan, Do, Check, and Act.
Involve all the team members in identifying gaps, collecting information, and brainstorming sessions,
Point out existing problems, challenges, and opportunities,
Encourage everyone to drop in suggestions, ideas, creative strategies, and solutions,
Pick the most innovative and promising solutions,
Test the solution by implementing it for the testing period, like in pilot programs,
Analyze the progress regularly to determine the success rate of the chosen solution,
If desired results manifest within the trial period, approve the solution at the organizational level. And use the same approach for any other problem or update in hand. Otherwise, repeat the cycle of PDCA.
The goal of Kaizen is not to reach perfectionism but to find solutions, adapt to changes, enhance team spirit, and improve continuously by not settling just for the sake of the status quo.
6. Shikata Ga Nai
Shikata (ga) nai aka Shou (ga) Nai
Shikata Ga Nai or Shō (ga) nai is the Japanese concept of letting go of things you can’t control. Shikata Ga Nai simply refers to “it can’t be helped,” which encourages people to accept things or situations as they are.
There are many instances in life where unexpected incidents occur, like disasters, economic crises, or the death of a loved one. We neither prepare ourselves for such events nor they’re a part of our plan. But such unfortunate events happen, and it’s crucial to accept and get over them to move on in life.
This is possible when you make internal peace with what has happened and persevere even in adversity.
Stop fighting or denying the situation that you’re struggling to make peace with,
Give it some serious thought and see if you can do anything to change it,
If you know there’s nothing that you can do about it, shift your focus to finding ways that will help you adapt to your situation,
Don’t compare your life with other people and be in the present moment,
Self-reflect on the situation to understand what went wrong or how you can face similar challenges further in life with greater strength,
Have patience and trust the process and the fact that you’re a resilient being.
7. Kintsugi: The Japanese concept of broken things
The literal meaning of “Kintsugi” is ‘join with gold’. It’s the art of repairing broken objects, often ceramic pottery or glass, by using gold lacquer to mend the cracks and give them an aesthetic appeal.
Urushi is the traditional lacquer used by the Japanese to glue broken pieces while practising Kintsugi. Then, the object with the lacquer is set aside to dry and further sanded smoothly. In the end, gold, silver, platinum, or copper finishing powder is sprinkled over the lacquer to give it a refurbished look.
The deep philosophy behind Kintsugi is all about
Embracing imperfection- as it highlights the cracks not as flaws but as something that draws people’s attention
Minimizing waste- rather than discarding the broken object, it’s repaired to promote sustainable use of resources and demotes buying unnecessary new products
Allowing ourselves to make mistakes, for they only make our journeys uniquely interesting.
If you’re going through a heartbreak, economic crisis, or failure, implement Kintsugi.
Remind yourself it’s not the end of the world. These are only a few battles that you might have lost, but you’ve to prepare yourself to win the war.
Pick yourself up and make these scars your gold lacquer that will shape your life better than you’ve ever imagined.
So, life might not be perfect at this moment as per your plans but have faith that it will be beautiful in the end. You’ll come out stronger because of everything you’re going through now.
Final Words
Life is uncertain, and at times things don’t go as planned. The important thing is to keep looking for ways that help us make the most of what we have. The following 7 Japanese philosophies allow everyone to do it irrespective of where they belong.
1. Ikigai, aka reason for being
2. Wabi-sabi
3. Shinrin-yoku: forest bathing
4. Ma: The negative space
5. Kaizen: Japanese concept of business
6. Shikata Ga Nai
7. Kintsugi: The Japanese concept of broken things.
Practising them is easy if you’ve got the will, discipline, and determination to lead a meaningful life. These Japanese concepts will transform your life for good by offering you strength, wisdom, and courage to face any adversity with grace.
