How To Run Away (& Other Handy Hints for Your Next Bit)

·S3 E10

Hiroko Yoda on Eight Million Ways to Happiness: Finding Hidden Meaning in Everyday Life the Japanese Way

April 13
53 mins

Episode Description

If you've ever felt drawn to Japan - its quiet beauty, its rituals, its unhurried way of moving through the world - this conversation is for you.

Today I'm speaking with Hiroko Yoda, Tokyo-based author, translator, folklorist, and certified kimono consultant. Her book Eight Million Ways to Happiness is the culmination of more than a decade of research, exploration, and living in Japan. It's a cultural history of the Japanese spiritual landscape - and a roadmap for anyone questing for meaning in the modern world, without locking themselves into any specific faith or belief system.

And I am thrilled to say this is her first Australian podcast interview.

In this conversation, we explore:

  • What Japan's eight million gods and spirits tell us about finding meaning in the everyday
  • How Japanese spiritual traditions - from shrine visits to seasonal rituals - can help us feel more grounded and present
  • The concept of awe and why seeking wonder in ordinary life changes everything
  • What Japan's elders have taught Hiroko about what really matters in the second half of life
  • How to reconnect with nature and the seasons as a doorway to something deeper
  • Whether Japan's quiet everyday spirituality translates to our busy Western lives - or whether it's a simplistic outsider fantasy
  • How to weave a meaningful experience into a trip to Japan without it feeling like a tourist checklist


This is a conversation about slowing down, finding hidden meaning in the everyday, and what an ancient culture might offer a modern world that is moving very, very fast.


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