Everyone knows Japan is a country of rich history, culture, and 20,000-yen wagyu katsu sandos that make you cream your underwear upon first bite. But what more can we learn from the Land of the Rising Sun? Well, according to some men who burn easily in indirect sunlight, a whole dang lot. Here are some mind-blowing Japanese concepts that white men have learned of only a few minutes ago and are absolutely dying to tell you about.
Ikigai
Ikigai refers to one’s sense of purpose, or reason for living. Discovering your personal ikigai can take some deep introspection, but the feeling of fulfillment it brings is worth it. For UX designer Harrison West, finding his “why” was easy: “I learned about ikigai, and then I immediately booked it down the hall to tell my coworker Haruka all about it.”
Wabi-sabi
In simple terms, wabi-sabi is about appreciating the beauty of imperfection— a crack in a ceramic mug, a slightly discolored spot on a linen bedsheet, or the dappling of stretch marks on your thigh pointed out by an unknown dude in your DMs. As project manager Brayden Matthewson explains to his girlfriend Nami Ishii, an emerging style influencer, “You know how your nipples are different sizes, like pepperonis from different brands, and I surprisingly don’t find them entirely hideous? That’s wabi-sabi, babe!”
Gaman
Gaman can be described as perseverance through unbearable hardship. Hunter Mills, a marketing specialist who recently copied and pasted his name in katakana into his Instagram bio, is all too familiar with the Buddhist teaching ever since he saw an infographic of it online, just now. “It’s like the time that the bar didn’t have a locally brewed IPA on tap, so I settled for a locally brewed lager on tap,” he recalls. “On the outside, I was gaman-ing really hard, but inside my kokoro, which is Japanese for ‘heart,’ I felt like I had been sliced open by a katana— that’s a type of samurai sword by the way.”
All of these Japanese concepts can transform your life for the better. At the very least, having a basic understanding of them can bring you a small bit of happiness – that is, until a white man attempts to explain them to you.
