Happiness in Japanese: tips on how to make a person's life more joyful and brighter

The authors of this monograph have attempted to generalize the Japanese’s understanding of human happiness and reveal secrets on how to attain it to Russian readers.
When conceptualizing the components of happiness many generations of Japanese people have referred to the wise ancient Greek saying: “Happy is the one whose life is filled with the joys of spiritual being and developed self-awareness, not with material goods.” That is why on the one hand, many Japanese people today believe that human happiness of difficult to attain by chasing after material wealth, and on the other hand, that it can be easily found through spiritual joys. The Japanese have been familiarized from an early age with the concept that they will spend half their lives at work where they should learn to find their chance to make their lives happy. A successful Japanese person knows that he/she needs to solve the three following tasks to attain happiness: gain the necessary levels of knowledge for self-realization in life; become a professional in their sphere of work; build themselves up as a person of high morals, honour and dignity. In overcoming life’s difficulties a Japanese person perfects himself/herself with each passing day. He works on himself, expands his knowledge and gains life experience. She reads new books, goes to the theatre and to exhibitions. Yet he does not forget the simple truth which fairly asserts that, “a healthy body houses a healthy spirit”. In other words, a balanced Japanese person aiming for happiness doesn’t forget about sport which will not only allow her to strengthen her health but also to expand her contact with the outside world. It is this kind of life that stimulates the Japanese to self-improvement in harmony, enables them to acquire the necessary set of human merits, and directs them towards a life of fully-fledged happiness.

The book is aimed at a wide circle of readers and possibly, first and foremost, at the young generation who at the start of their life will be thinking about how to live it in happiness.