What Makes Life Worth Living: How Japanese .

A copy that has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting.The spine remains undamaged. Here is an original and provocative anthropological approach to the fundame ntal philosophical question of what makes life worth living. Gordon Mathews considers this perennial issue by examining nine pairs of similarly situat ed individuals in the United States and Japan. In the course of exploring h ow people from these two cultures find meaning in their daily lives, he ill uminates a vast and intriguing range of ideas about work and love, religion , creativity, and self-realization. Mathews explores these topics by means of the Japanese term ikigai, "that w hich most makes one's life seem worth living." American English has no equi valent, but ikigai applies not only to Japanese lives but to American lives as well. Ikigai is what, day after day and year after year, each of us mos t essentially lives for. Through the life stories of those he interviews, Mathews analyzes the ways Japanese and American lives have been affected by social roles and cultural vocabularies. As we approach the end of the century, the author's investig ation into how the inhabitants of the world's two largest economic superpow ers make sense of their lives brings a vital new understanding to our skept ical age. From the Inside Flap: "A unique and provocative contribution to the fundamental question of what makes life worth living. Mathews works creatively with the similarities and differences in the United States and Japan to shed light on cultural values in the two societies."John L. Caughey, author of.

Product Info

ISBN: 0520201337

ISBN-13: 9780520201330

Publisher: University of California Pre

Year: 1996

Type: Used

Binding: Softcover

Seller Info

InfinityBooksJapan

Address: 1F Komagata Heights Bldg Tokyo,

Website: https://www.infinitybooksjapan.com

Country: Japan