A Reason to Jump out of Bed Each Morning
June 2020
We extend our sympathy to all people and families affected by Covid-19, along with our sincere gratitude to healthcare and social workers, and others striving so hard to keep our lives as safe as possible. While various parts of the world experiences instability, we will continue to stand for and with everyone working towards equal rights, liberty, and justice for all.
The state of emergency has been lifted in Japan, and we prepare to restart our lives in this “new normal”. All the while, Bureau 0–1 has strived to continue operations safely during these difficult times. Because it was hard to meet friends and supporters directly, even for a casual chat, we have made the decision to communicate with you in this way, in an effort to remain close and connected.
Over the last few months we all have had the time for self-reflection, and for my part, as I tried to organize my thoughts, I was reminded of an article I once read about the Japanese concept of ikigai, or ‘life motivation’. The piece was by Thomas Oppong, founder of AllTopStartups. He defined his ikigai as the reason he got out of bed in the morning.
https://medium.com/thrive-global/ikigai-the-japanese-secret-to-a-long-and-happy-life-might-just-help-you-live-a-more-fulfilling-9871d01992b7
What is your ikigai? This is not an easy question to answer, but here are some of questions we started to ask ourselves, based on Oppong’s starting points;
1. What do I love?
2. What am I good at?
3. What can I provide that has value — or something that could transform into a positive future?
4. What does the world need?
Oppong wrote that his notion of ikigai lay in the overlap between answers to these questions. I thought it might be interesting if we all made use of the present time to list up and share answers of our own.
Bureau 0–1 would like to start from this point to issue a quasi-monthly newsletter. We will use it to share information about our activities, including our on-going collaborations with Harvard and Keio universities, as well as details of domestic and overseas developments. We would be delighted if you can interact with the letters when they arrive, and we certainly look forward to hearing from you too.
Let’s get through these difficult times and I hope we can see each other again soon.
