As a native Japanese speaker, I get annoyed when I come across English articles that tout Japanese buzzwords like ikigai. They’re not commonly used in our day-to-day conversations. Ikigai is more like a stock word thrown in job interviews or autobiographies.
Instead of those fancy words, I’d like to introduce my three favorite Japanese words. They’re basic words but each carries a cultural richness that defies translation into a single English word.
En (???) / Goen (??????)
If you’re familiar with the Japanese language, you may know that people toss a five yen coin into a donation box at a shrine. They wish for good “en”—not cashback in yen—but fortunate connections with people and new opportunities.
En (???) can be roughly translated to words like destiny, bond, or connection. What’s intriguing is that ??? isn’t as casual as accepting someone’s connection request on LinkedIn. The word has a slight nuance of serendipity and a more profound notion of fate.