Ikigai : the Japanese secret to a long and happy life pdfdrive com

Advantages of Flow
Disadvantages of Distraction
A focused mind	A wandering mind
L iving in the present	Thinking about the past and the future
We are free from worry	Concerns about our daily life and the people around us invade our thoughts
The hours fly by	Every minute seems endless
We feel in control	We lose control and fail to complete the task at hand, or other tasks or people keep us from our work
We prepare thoroughly	We act without being prepared
We know what we should be doing at any given moment	We frequently get stuck and don’t know how to proceed
Our mind is clear and overcomes all obstacles to the flow of thought	We are plagued by doubts, concerns, and low self-esteem
It’s pleasant	It’s boring and exhausting
Our ego fades: We are not the ones controlling the activity or task we’re doing—the task is leading us	Constant self-criticism: Our ego is present and we feel frustrated

Flow in Japan: Takumis, engineers, geniuses, and otakus

What do takumis (artisans), engineers, inventors, and otakus (fans of anime and manga) have in common? They all understand the importance of flowing with their ikigai at all times.
One widespread stereotype about people in Japan is that they’re exceptionally dedicated and hardworking, even though some Japanese people say they look like they’re working harder than they really are. There is no doubt, though, about their ability to be completely absorbed in a task, or about their perseverance when there is a problem to be solved. One of the first words one learns when starting Japanese lessons is ganbaru, which means “to persevere” or “to stay firm by doing one’s best.”
Japanese people often apply themselves to even the most basic tasks with an intensity that borders on obsession. We see this in all kinds of contexts, from the “retirees” taking meticulous care of their rice fields in the mountains of Nagano to the college students working the weekend shift in convenience stores known as konbinis. If you go to Japan, you’ll experience this attention to detail firsthand in almost every transaction.
Walk into one of the stores that sell handcrafted objects in Naha, K anazawa, or K yoto and you’ll also discover that Japan is a treasure trove of traditional craftwork. The people of Japan have a unique talent for creating new technologies while preserving artisanal traditions and techniques.

The art of the takumi

Toyota employs “artisans” who are able to make a certain type of screw by hand.
These takumi, or experts in a particular manual skill, are extremely important to Toyota, and they are hard to replace. Some of them are the only people who know how to perform their exact skill, and it doesn’t seem as though a new generation is going to take up the mantle.
Turntable needles are another example: They’re produced almost exclusively in Japan, where you can find the last remaining people who know how to use the machinery required to make these precision needles, and who are trying to pass on their knowledge to their descendants.
We met a takumi on a visit to K umano, a small town near Hiroshima. We were there for the day, working on a photo essay for one of the most famous brands of makeup brushes in the West. The billboard welcoming visitors to K umano shows a mascot holding a large brush. In addition to the brush factories, the town is full of little houses and vegetable gardens; heading farther in, you can see several Shinto shrines at the base of the mountains that surround the town.
We spent hours taking photos in factories full of people in orderly rows, each doing a single task—such as painting the handles of the brushes or loading boxes of them onto trucks—before we realized we still hadn’t seen anyone actually putting bristles into the brush heads.
After we asked about this and got the runaround several times, the president of one company agreed to show us how it was done. He led us out of the building and asked us to get into his car. After a five-minute drive we parked next to another, smaller structure and climbed the stairs. He opened a door and we walked into a small room filled with windows that let in lovely natural light. walked into a small room filled with windows that let in lovely natural light.
In the middle of the room was a woman wearing a mask. Y ou could see only her eyes. She was so focused on choosing individual bristles for the brushes— gracefully moving her hands and fingers, using scissors and combs to sort the bristles—that she didn’t even notice our presence. Her movements were so quick it was hard to tell what she was doing.
The president of the company interrupted her to let her know that we’d be taking photos as she worked. We couldn’t see her mouth, but the glint in her eye and the cheerful inflection in her speech let us know she was smiling. She looked happy and proud talking about her work and responsibilities.
We had to use extremely fast shutter speeds to capture her movements. Her hands danced and flowed in concert with her tools and the bristles she was sorting.
The president told us that this takumi was one of the most important people in the company, even though she was hidden away in a separate building. Every bristle of every brush the company made passed through her hands.