Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review Awakening Your Ikigai by Ken Mogi. A descriptive and instructional book of the Five Pillars of Ikigai. These five pillars involve starting small, releasing yourself, harmony and sustainability, the joy of small things and being in the here and now and can lead anyone into a more enjoyable, fulfilling life. The five pillars or principles of Ikigai remind us to begin at the beginning and don’t expect perfection immediately but continue to strive for perfection in all that we do. The principles also help us keep our focus on the joy of living in each and every day. Balance or harmony is also important and living each moment fully instead of rushing through our lives is a key to Ikigai. Peaceful and inspiring, Awakening Your Ikigai is easy to understand and follow to bring true and pure happiness into our lives. 4 stars.

Based on the premise, I opened this book with enthusiasm. However, I was surprised to find what a hard time I had getting through it. I was anticipating a simple guide to happiness as viewed through a Japanese cultural lens. Instead, I was given too many lengthy, overly-detailed stories about different types of Japanese people. Don't get me wrong - Japanese culture should definitely be a part of this book, and some of the stories were very interesting. However, these became the focus of the book rather than serving to explain Ikigai. Overall, the book was just too long and the stories distracted rather than exemplified what Ikigai is all about. The book should have been much shorter and much easier to get through. The smaller examples were all he really needed: for example, the suggestion of starting each morning with a piece of chocolate is the perfect explanation of "Starting Small" - the long accompanying details about the habits of sumo wrestlers did nothing to advance that.

Well worth a read especially if you follow Marie Kondo’s books. It was interesting to read of the five different pillars.

It felt *too* Japanese to me, and I found it hard to transfer the ideals of the Japanese people to my American self. It tries very hard to be like the other books on the market showing how other countries are happier than The United States. I can see some people liking the book, but over all I do not see the general public jumping on this band wagon.

The title of the book is what intrigued me into reading this book. I was like hmm, what is ikigai and how do I awaken it? The book provides stories on the Japanese culture and people, who have found their passion/joy in life. Like Jiro, the most well-known sushi master who is critically acclaimed for his restaurant, he has found that making sushi is his ikigai.

I was honestly hoping I would get something out of the book however, it did not. It didn't spark joy for me like Marie Kondo's book. The 5 pillars of ikigai explained were nothing out of the ordinary that I do in my daily life however I still read the entire book and did gain some insight on how to live life.

The book is an easy, quick read too!

This book describes a technique for finding your purpose, as well as helping the reader to understand why it is important to have purpose in your day. It explores many of the self-help elements in similar books.

Awakening Your Ikagai by Ken Mogi explains that Ikigai has 5 Pillars:
1 - Starting small
2 - Releasing yourself
3 - Harmony & sustainability
4 - The joy of small things
5 - Being in the here and now

I thought that this book would be more instructional like Marie Kondo's book but it has more about Japanese culture and their way of life. Interesting but not really my cup of tea.

Awakening Your Ikigai by Ken Mogi is a self help book, great for the new year, and full of reminders how to live our best life. The book is about having purpose, using creativity, and I love that it mentions sustainability. That makes this books suggestions very doable for me.

I enjoyed this book and thought it offered some interesting advice. I can see it being useful for some of my students (academic medical library), although I would have preferred it available in kindle format.

Awakening Your Ikagai by Ken Mogi explains that Ikigai (roughly described as the pleasures and meanings of life) has 5 Pillars:
1 - Starting small; focusing on doing a certain thing (or part of a thing) very well
2 - Releasing yourself; accepting who you are, and allowing yourself to be open to your place in the greater community
3 - Harmony & sustainability - recognizing that the permanence of anything includes getting along with and relying on others
4 - The joy of small things - appreciating the sensory pleasure of everything around you
5 - Being in the here and now - living in this moment now

The majority of the book is focused on descriptions of the Japanese culture, and is written in a rather awkward way. This made it difficult for me to pick out the little nuggets of insight into Ikigai itself. After reading the book, I'm still doubtful as to what Ikagai actually means. I wish the author was a bit more straight-forward in laying out what he wanted to get across to the reader.

Many thanks to NetGalley and The Experiment for allowing me to read an e-copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.

I thought this was more about about Japanese culture than a self-help book. My takeaway of Ikigai was that it was some kind of hobby/interest that could be very small and could either lead or not lead to paid work.

There were a lot of interesting factoids about Japanese culture. What I found most interesting was that most Japanese don't like there jobs(like most Americans right now). I found this very significant that it is coming from a culture that I think of as both having a very strong work ethic and sense of loyalty to the company. I think this growing dislike of paid employment will have a negative economic impact on both cultures.

This book was much more scientific than I had anticipated and it was hard to follow at times.

The five pillars of ikigai are: starting small, releasing yourself, harmony and sustainability, the joy of small things, and being in the here and now. Author Ken Mogi explores each of these pillars and uses general examples from Japanese culture, as well as specific individuals such as three-Michelin-star chef Jiro Ono to explain how each pillar influences one's life as it is embraced. The balance of using traits or habits of famous people, but also pointing out how the same characteristics are found in the population at large reassures the reader that anyone may embrace this approach to life - one doesn't have to be Walt Disney or another famous figure to have joy in small things or release oneself and experience flow in the pursuit of one's craft. A wonderful example of being immersed in the here and now is the Japanese tea ceremony, which also blends starting small (with details of setting the scene), the joy of small things (a cup of tea,) a sense of harmony, and the losing of oneself by those performing the ceremony. It often seems that several of the pillars work together in this way.

As we start a new year and many people are thinking of changes to their routines or making resolutions, reading this book could give some helpful ideas. As the first principle points out, it is always best to start small. Reading through the descriptions and examples can offer ideas of various areas in life where the principles might be best applied. Finding something that promotes harmony and joy in small things might just motivate readers to start each day with joy, too.

I greatly enjoyed this little book. I thought the authors take on' Ikigai' was superb. I love most things about Japanese culture and the author helped explain some things that I didn't know. I especially liked the part on the 'starry' pottery.

Ken Mogi presents the five pillars of Ikigai as they appear in life, mixing and matching to bring about happiness. Each aspect of your life that brings you joy and purpose, such as your morning routine or work ethic, can be considered Ikigai.

Although I have encountered the pillars before in books focusing on mindfulness, happiness, and minimalism, I found the deep look at Japanese culture to be the true prize in this book. After all, I may find my own morning ritual Ikigai by writing, reading, and enjoying a cup of coffee, but have never considered engaging others in a rewarding morning activity.

This is the perfect read for anyone looking for examples of simple, joyful living, or encouragement to believe in your own unique interests and skills.

A good layman’s read on Ikigai. Those interested in self-help will find his quite useful as it’s easy to understand and put into practice.

In similar viens to Marie Kondo and other minimalism and happiness books this book seeks to teach the Japanese art of Ikigai which is built on five pillars.
1. Starting small
2. Releasing yourself
3. Harmony and sustainability
4. The joy of small things
5. Being in the here and now
The five pillars are scattered throughout the book and are based up In Japanese history and why these are important.

I enjoyed learning about Ikigai and I found important points with each of the pillars, but I was not wowed by the writing. I do not know if it was a translation issue or something else but it didn't flow. I found myself racing through the book as I didn't want to savour the words

Unfortunately, I couldn't review this book because it's unavailable as a Kindle ebook. (Currently, I share a computer and don't use pdf downloads for books.)

Awakening Your Ikigai by Ken Mogi
Blog post January 9 2017
Ikigai is a Japanese concept that is making its way to the broader world.
Ikigai can be best translated as a way of life that enables you to enjoy the simple joys of life even in the midst of conflict and chaos.
Ikigai promotes a balanced but simple lifestyle; in making choices to appreciate the small things in life. And, the author suggests, Ikigai could be critical to a long life.
Highlights of Ikigai include starting small, the joy of little things, harmony and stability, and being in the here and now.
It’s easy to see the appeal of Ikigai in Japan, where workers frequently log more than 80 hours a month of overtime and death related to overwork in Japan has made international news of late.
Author Ken Mogi uses multiple examples from both Japan and the western world to explain how Ikigai transcends cultural boundaries. Mogi shows how Ikigai can be seen in Japanese culture in the Sumo wrestler’s lifestyle, a famous Sushi chef’s approach, or even the fisherman who supplies that chef fresh fish. From the Western World, we can see Ikigai in an Irish television comedy, the living conditions of California and Montana, and the works of William Shakespeare.
Even though Ikigai is a Japanese term, the ideals are something that stressed out people around the globe can embrace.
Mogi’s syntax is sometimes stilted and has the feel of a speaker, or translator, who is well versed in English but not fully fluent. Some of the examples used to support the arguments for Ikigai in the Western world seem either dated or a bit of a stretch, but it is easy for the reader to grasp the main point and extrapolate that to his or her own cultural examples.
Mogi’s book particularly resonated with me, as I made my first trip through Japan last summer and visited many of the places Mogi mentions as examples in the book. But you don’t need to be an Otaku -- a fan of Japanese culture -- to find this book both interesting and rewarding.
This quick and easy read makes an effective case for adopting Ikigai regardless of where you live. Despite some minor flaws in readability and examples, this is a recommended read that can help you find joy and balance in the life you’re already living. Awekening Your Ikigai is a worthy read for a weary world.

This book is most interesting for the view it gives of the Japanese, their philosophy of life, and their society.It's less useful, I think, as a guide for how to live your life.

Since that's what it purports to be, that's a bit of a problem.

The problem is that while the author is pretty good at describing each of the five pillars of ikigai, he is not very good at explaining exactly how one incorporates them into one's life. It might be that its a translation thing, it might be that he approaches this concept differently as a Japanese, but it marred the book in my opinion.