You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice.

The best chapter was interviews with a number of Japanese citizens from this little village who were over 100 years old and were asked why they had lived for so long (exercise, healthy eating and socializing). It will show you how to leave urgency behind, find your purpose, nurture friendships and throw yourself into your passions. Certainly, the authors can provide a neutral take on the concept, yet from my personal perspective, adding more of a nuance from their own opinions would be worth reading as well.And according to the residents of the Japanese island of Okinawa – the world’s longest-living people – finding it is the key to a longer and more fulfilled life. Warm, patient, and kind, this book pulls you gently along your own journey rather than pushing you from behind.

I listened to the audiobook, and was disappointed by how horribly the narrator pronounced Japanese terms. Heather Cleary’s translations include Betina González’s American Delirium, Roque Larraquy’s Comemadre (nominee, National Book Award 2018), and Sergio Chejfec’s The Dark (nominee, National Translation Award 2014) and The Planets (finalist, BTBA 2013).

Yes there are chapters on diet and exercise, and the content of these is not particularly new or surprising (however irritating it may be, these things are indeed features of a healthy lifestyle).

The people of Japan believe that everyone has an ikigai… a reason to jump out of bed in the morning. People who maintained low levels of stress, faced challenges and put their soul into their work lived longer than those who chose a more relaxed lifestyle. This was certainly another winner to start the year and of the non-fiction kind which I haven’t read much of these days. There are methods, there are ways being practiced, with good empirical studies that made the suggestions to attain happiness doable. If hygge is the art of doing nothing, ikigai is the art of doing something - and doing it with supreme focus and joy.Alongside Héctor García, he was welcomed to Okinawa in Japan, where the inhabitants live for longer than in any other place in the world. For fans of Japanese culture like I am, this is a true treat, as it mixes that with a neat account of self-development. Practitioners must fill in overlapping circles that cover motivation, fulfilment, what they earn and what improves their life. One of the things it taught me was that Japan has the highest average life expectancy in the world, and the importance of the simple lessons of the citizens of Okinawa, a place in Japan that exceeds the national average and has the most centenarians in the world (people aged over 100), and the secrets to their longevity. While I think the book is more about answering the basic question which we most of the time overlook.

Please note that all 3 books were written before COVID and each book suggested one of the best socializing things to do was to have dinner parties, but obviously that couldn't happen then, but hopefully people are getting back to doing this.Born in Barcelona, he studied journalism, English literature and German philology, and has worked as a translator, editor, art therapist and musician.