Tuesday 2 April 2019

Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life

Looking at my last blog post, I see that it has been more than a year since I posted to this blog. For that, I am sorry. I've not stopped reading. No, on the contrary, I've been reading quite a lot. In fact, I posted some rather good - if I do say so myself - reviews to the Beatdom website. However, this blog sort of lost interest to me. I felt pressured to write reviews and I wasn't enjoying it very much. However, now I'm back in that frame of mind and ready to review once again. 

So here goes. 

A few weeks ago I was in Edinburgh and I found a book called Ikigai. It sounded interesting, and I could see from the reviews that it was highly regarded. The book professes to hold the secret to happiness and longevity, and though that it is a bold enough claim to assume impossible, I was quite attracted by the book's design and the fact that it was based upon Japanese philosophy. I've long been attracted to the Land of the Rising Sun. 

I didn't buy the book, but I did download it on Kindle later. The reason I didn't buy it there and then in the shop was because, although it did look beautiful and did sound interesting, whenever I opened it, the text was a bit... well... a bit wanky. That's a British way of saying it sounded like bullshit. 



Unfortunately, when I got into reading the book some days later, I found that my initial ideas about the book were correct. It was terrible. The book is a mix of the most awful pop science, some bullshit spiritualism, and advice that is so patently obvious that it is not worth saying unless you are teaching small children. It seems that half the sentences in the book start with "According to expert scientists..." and end with "... can improve your mind-body-chakra connection." 

Ok, I don't think that they ever actually said "chakra". This is, after all, based upon Japanese ideas. However, there is a liberal dose of hippie bollocks smeared through the pages. The text jumps from idea to idea like a badly organized meditation retreat, and backs up idiotic claims with things that no one could deny: eat healthily, get some exercise, avoid stress. In these, they of course hide elements of nonsense, adding that eating healthily should include superfoods and that exercise should definitely include yoga! (I have nothing against blueberries and yoga, but don't pretend these are some fucking magical elixir.)

The book definitely contains good advice, and I assume it's so popular because it targets the average idiot pretty well. I can think of a good hundred people I've met in my life who would read this and find it absolutely wonderful. But for me, it was genuinely difficult to finish, even though it's a very short book. It's like sitting through a kindergarten class as an adult. "No, I wasn't planning to eat that glue... and give me back my fucking scissors." 

If you have any self-respect, avoid Ikigai. I don't mean the concept (which, by the way, I forgot to mention means something like "finding your passion and sticking to it"). No, avoid this book. Go to Japan or read Murakami or something instead. This book will do nothing good for you. 

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