{"product_id":"what-makes-life-worth-living-how-japanese-and-americans-make-sense-of-their-worlds","title":"What Makes Life Worth Living?: How Japanese and Americans Make Sense of Their Worlds","description":"\u003cp\u003eHere is an original and provocative anthropological approach to the fundamental philosophical question of what makes life worth living. Gordon Mathews considers this perennial issue by examining nine pairs of similarly situated individuals in the United States and Japan. In the course of exploring how people from these two cultures find meaning in their daily lives  he illuminates 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 which most makes ones life seem worth living.\" American English has no equivalent  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 most 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 authors investigation into how the inhabitants of the worlds two largest economic superpowers make sense of their lives brings a vital new understanding to our skeptical age.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44985865666613,"sku":"ByrdShop_0520201337","price":32.45,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780520201330.jpg?v=1770874688","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/what-makes-life-worth-living-how-japanese-and-americans-make-sense-of-their-worlds","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}