Do you know why the Japanese are among the finest at everything—technology and innovation, discipline, health, even living past 100?
It’s not just hard work.
It isn’t just machinery or science.
It is something profound, beautiful, ancient, and precious that they carry in their hearts: Ikigai—a reason to live.
In the Ikigai book: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life, authors Héctor García and Francesc Miralles travelled to the village of Ogimi, on the Japanese island of Okinawa—well known not just for long life but for living life full of joy, strength, and grace.
They interviewed dozens of centenarians, including:
Misao Okawa, 117 years, who said:
“Eat something delicious and relax.”
Uemura Tokuji, 102 years old, said:
“I plant and harvest my vegetables. That keeps me alive.”
Kamisato Saburo, 105 years old, said:
“I wake up every day with something to do. That’s enough.”
These are not monks! These are regular people—bakers, farmers, fishermen, mothers—ordinary people whose lives became extraordinary through Ikigai.
What is Ikigai truly?
It is the core that exists at the crossroads of the following four things:
What you LOVE
What you’re GOOD AT
What the world NEEDS
What you can be PAID FOR
Once you have found this very center, you no longer have a job, or a hobby, or a dream—
You have reasons to wake up in the morning.
Japan doesn’t quite view retirement the way we tend to do in the West. They believe that as long as one can be of service, their work has not yet found its completion. Whether it is a karate master of 97 years who still teaches… or a lady making traditional kimonos with hands that have now seen a hundred years… they live with dignity, not with delay.
The authors write:
“Only staying active will make you want to live a hundred years.”
And you see it—not in their success—but in their peace. They don’t rush through life. They flow through it.
Consider the possibilities:
Mitsuharu Ueyama, aged 102, still rises at six to attend his vegetable garden.
Not because somebody wanted him to, but because that garden is indeed his joy, his gift.
That garden… is his Ikigai.
Now pause your thoughts and ask yourself:
What is your garden?
What makes time fly away while in your company?
What makes your heart whisper: “This is me”?
What will you do even if no one pays you… even if no one claps?
That… might just be your Ikigai.
Our world screams: “Be successful!”
But Ikigai whispers: “Be meaningful.”
The world says: “Be fast.”
Ikigai says: “Be present.”
The world tells you to get rich.
Ikigai says:
“Love something so deeply that the world is richer for it because of you.”
Friends,
Ikigai is not a rule to follow; it is a rhythm to feel.
It doesn’t say live longer; it says live truer.
It is not just a Japanese word—it is an eternal truth:
That joy never resides in anything we take from this world. It is given away—wholeheartedly.
Find that purpose. Keep it fed. Keep it alive.
Because the life of Ikigai is a life worth waking for.
This was the last reminder from Shah Zeeshan:
“Don’t just chase a living. Chase a life that makes your soul feel alive.”
Find your Ikigai. Protect it with your life. Live every day for it.
Shah Zeeshan
sh*********************@***il.com