Japan’s ‘ikigai’ has no single English translation, but the simple idea of having a reason to get up each morning was linked, in a 2008 study that tracked 43,000 Japanese adults for seven years, to measurably lower mortality

A 2008 study of 43,391 Japanese adults by Toshimasa Sone at Tohoku University found that those who reported having ikigai — a Japanese word with no clean English equivalent, meaning roughly a reason to get up in the morning — were significantly less likely to die over the following seven years, particularly from cardiovascular causes. The post Japan’s ‘ikigai’ has no single English translation, but the simple idea of having a reason to get up each morning was linked, in a 2008 study that tracked