libra_sun 's review for:

Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life by Francesc Miralles, Héctor García

3.0

informative medium-paced

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I thought the book would focus more on interviews then it did. I would've liked to hear more in depths stories of the residents. I also thought a lot of the book took the idea of "iki-gai" and put it into a capitalist framework, which I don't believe captures the essence of iki-gai. The advice given is somewhat surface level, I was hoping for a deeper dive into the spiritual elements and history of iki-gai. It was an easy read, but I didn't love the setup of the book and I think I that the message didn't resonate with me in the way I thought it would. I live in Japan so I was hoping for a deeper dive into the history.