The Ikigai Podcast

Nick Kemp from Ikigai Tribe reveals what ikigai truly means to the Japanese and how you can find it to make your life worth living. Discover how you can find meaning, purpose, and joy in your day to day living, with this podcast. From interviews with professors, authors and experts to case studies of people living their ikigai, you'll learn about the power of rituals, why having a daily morning routine is vital, how to find your confidence, how to improve your relationships, and why you should start a meaningful online business. Hit the subscribe button, and get ready to find your ikigai.

The Ikigai Podcast is a society podcast hosted by Nick Kemp - Ikigai Tribe, with 137 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80.

Nick Kemp - Ikigai Tribe hosts The Ikigai Podcast, a society show with 137 episodes published.

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  The Ikigai Podcast

  Ikigai, Zero Waste and Local Wisdom in Kamikatsu with Satoshi Nonoyama

  Sep 28, 202640 min

  A former would-be astronaut helps a tiny town in Japan teach the world how to live lighter. Yuki Ohata returns with Satoshi Nonoyama, founder and CEO of Pangea, to unpack why Kamikatsu, Tokushima has become a magnet for sustainable tourism, study tours, and corporate learning trips. This conversation is recorded in Japanese with interpretation support, and it’s packed with practical lessons you can steal for your community, your team, or your next trip. We start with Satoshi’s origin story: a childhood obsession sparked by Mobile Suit Gundam, a formative NASA Space Camp experience, and the long arc from human resources to building an educational travel business rooted in nature and community. Then we zoom in on what makes Kamikatsu so compelling. The Irodori leaf business proves that an aging society can still be innovative, profitable, and tech-enabled, with farmers around 70 using ICT tools and earning real income from a product that’s physically accessible and high value. Next, we dig into Kamikatsu’s famous zero waste town system, where residents sort trash into 44 categories and bring it to a shared facility, turning waste reduction into a community habit and a working circular economy. From there, Satoshi explains what Pangea offers: experiential learning, outdoor programs, MICE travel for company teams, and “moonshot” education designed to build critical thinking, tacit knowledge, hands-on problem solving, and new value creation. We also explore the vision for ikigai retreats in Kamikatsu and potential collaboration with Shizuoka’s emerging leaf initiative. If you care about sustainable tourism in Japan, community-led revitalization, or team retreats that actually change how people think, this one’s for you. Subscribe, share this with a friend who loves purposeful travel, and leave a review with the biggest idea you’re taking from Kamikatsu.

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  Episode #137

  Wisdom of the Shoguns with Maoko Miami

  Sep 21, 202635 min

  The fastest way to lose your edge is to confuse information with wisdom. We sit down with Tokyo-based Japanese calligrapher and author Naoko Omikami to talk about her new book, *Wisdom of the Shoguns: Valuable Life Lessons from Japan’s Greatest Warriors*, and why it’s designed to be read slowly, not binged. We get practical about the history without turning it into a lecture, clearing up the roles of samurai, shogun, and daimyo, and even the marketing choices that shape a book’s title for global readers. From there, the conversation moves into Japanese aesthetics and meaning-making, including the cover’s kanji “Michi” (the way), and how disciplines like bushido and shodo point to lifelong learning. Naoko shares why calligraphy is not decoration here: each brushstroke is meant to help you feel the spirit of a quote before you analyze it. Then we dig into leadership lessons that still sting in the best way. Tokugawa Ieyasu’s rare trifecta of patience, clarity, and self-discipline meets Oda Nobunaga’s bold standard: choose people by ability, not by seniority. We connect those ideas to modern work culture, attention overload, and the need to reflect rather than react, including Naoko’s insight that wisdom doesn’t change, but we do, and a line you ignore today might become exactly what you need later. If you’re drawn to samurai wisdom, Japanese leadership principles, mindfulness, calligraphy, or simply better questions about how to live, this one’s for you. Subscribe, share this with a friend who needs a steadier “way,” and leave a review with the quote that hit you hardest.

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  Episode #136

  Beyond Myself 8: Eight Powers for Navigating an Uncertain World

  Sep 7, 202630 min

  The world is changing fast, and “just be strong” is not a plan. I’m joined by my good friend, clinical psychologist and author Professor Daiki Kato to share the thinking behind his new book Beyond Myself 8 and the BM8 framework: eight practical psychological powers that help us stay steady, connect deeply, and move forward with purpose when life feels uncertain. We dig into why non-cognitive skills like resilience, self-efficacy, empathy, and tolerance matter as much as any technical ability, especially in an era shaped by rapid change and emerging AI. Daiki reframes resilience as flexible strength, like bamboo that bends and returns, and explains how self-efficacy grows through small wins that prove to your brain that progress is possible. From there we explore rolefulness, the sense that our presence and actions matter, and how that feeling can expand into genuine empathy and real tolerance, the “mental margin” that lets us welcome difference without feeling threatened. We also get concrete with the “navigate society” powers: identifying better questions when there are no clear answers, learning from experience without getting stuck in the past, and using imagination for risk management without spiraling into fear. Daiki shares two hands-on tools you can try right away: question journaling (discomfort to question to wider view) and a resilience map that helps you name what you have, who you are, what you can do, and where you can go for support. If you want a clear, usable map for mental strength, relationships, and meaningful contribution, hit play. Subscribe, share this with a friend who needs steadier footing, and leave a review with the one BM8 power you want to practice next.

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  Episode #135

  How Ikigai Can Support Recovery from Workplace Trauma with Dorothy Dalton

  Aug 31, 202645 min

  A single ignored greeting can sound small until it becomes the daily signal that you do not belong. We talk with Dorothy Dalton, a global HR leader and inclusive workplace champion, about what gender balance looks like when you have lived through normalized sexism, and why so many organizations still fall short on psychological safety and fair treatment. Dorothy shares how workplace harm has shifted from overt harassment to covert exclusion: being left out of emails, frozen out of meetings, measured against invisible standards, or kept in a constant state of anticipatory threat around redundancy. We dig into workplace trauma as an accumulation of repeated stressors, and we name the dynamic that makes recovery harder: corporate gaslighting that tells employees to “fix themselves” with confidence hacks, resilience talk, or burnout labels while the system stays the same. If you care about employee engagement, retention, and healthy performance, this is the uncomfortable side of workplace culture that cannot be ignored. We also get practical about healing. Dorothy explains how she integrates trauma-informed coaching, cognitive behavioral coaching, and a culturally accurate view of Ikigai to help people rebuild after bullying, layoffs, and chronic anxiety. We challenge the popular Ikigai Venn diagram and make room for a more human truth: your job does not have to be your only source of meaning. Purpose, gratitude, relationships, and small daily joys can be real steps back to stability, identity, and hope. If this conversation helps you name what you have been experiencing, share it with someone who needs it, subscribe for more on Ikigai and work culture, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway.

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  The Ikigai Podcast

  Trust and Leadership: An Entrepreneur’s Journey in Japan with Timothy Connor

  Aug 19, 202658 min

  Japan can look easy from the outside: huge buying power, world-class retail, and consumers who love quality. Then you try to sell there and discover the real barrier isn’t your product. It’s trust, context, and the unglamorous work most brands skip. We sit down with Timothy Connor, CEO of Synnovate, a bilingual and bicultural entrepreneur who has called Tokyo home for more than 30 years. Timothy shares how he went from learning Japanese and working in rural Iwate to building deep expertise in Japan’s distribution system, customer experience, e-commerce, omnichannel retail, and luxury consumer goods. We talk about why Japan is a “by the book” market, what foreign companies misunderstand about decision-making speed, and how long-term thinking changes everything from negotiations to loyalty. Timothy breaks down what “doing the homework” actually means for Japan market entry: market need, product fit, localization, translation, packaging standards, and the patience required to build real distributor relationships. He also explains why small cultural details can create massive wins (hello, Kit Kat) and why his rose logo is a simple metaphor for how Japanese business relationships grow: do the right thing at the right time, consistently. We also zoom out into leadership, with Timothy’s five archetypes that show up at different stages of company growth, plus lessons from Japan’s bubble era and what it teaches about resilience. If you’re expanding to Japan, selling to Japanese consumers, or building a trust-first brand anywhere, this conversation will sharpen your strategy. Subscribe, share this with a founder or brand leader, and leave a review with your biggest Japan market question.

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