The Cultural Appropriation of Ikigai

The Ikigai Venn Diagram

Everyday on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Medium hundreds of users unwittingly post, share, like and promote a Japanese concept that has been appropriated — ikigai. If you are reading this then most likely you have seen the Venn diagram above.

The Ikigai Venn Diagram

Indeed the Ikigai Venn diagram is seductive as it appeals to our ego. I’m sure without my intimate connection to Japan I would have fallen for it. We feel good about sharing things that inspire us. This is the case with the Ikigai Venn diagram. And, I know the intentions of most people sharing the Venn diagram are good.

Yet, the misuse of ikigai points an ignorant attitude where we assume we can understand a cultural concept in a sentence or in this case with a framework, and not fact check concepts or not even brother to speak to and learn from the people that the cultural concept belongs to. This behaviour happens all too often.

I know not all readers will agree with me on this and may argue that everything is open to opinion, that there are no right or wrong answers, and that the popularity of the Ikigai Venn diagram validates it. Indeed these statements have all been shared with me as has the question; “Why does it matter if it is not accurate if it is helping…