Eight Million Ways to Happiness: Wisdom for Inspiration and Healing from the Heart of Japan

A Shinto cultural historian shares a path to joyful living drawn from Japan’s uniquely flexible approach to spirituality and nature, offering a moving and enriching blend of memoir, cultural history, and guidance for anyone struggling with disconnection in the modern world.

Everyone’s in the pursuit of happiness, but few know how to attain this state of bliss. Millions around the world have turned to Japanese culture to unlock secrets to everything from finding their Ikigai to The Courage to Be Disliked. Yet Japan’s spiritual traditions are the hidden source of so many nourishing aspects of Japanese daily life and culture. Without Japan’s natural spiritual sustenance, Jiro wouldn’t dream of sushi; Hayao Miyazaki’s films wouldn’t spirit us away; and Marie Kondo wouldn’t spark joy.

In her book Eight Million Ways to Happiness, Hiroko Yoda offers the culmination of her decade-long odyssey into the spiritual heart of her homeland, and fills the pages with penetrating and poignant insights. Readers follow Hiroko as she trains as a Shinto shrine-dancer, partakes in Buddhist funeral rituals, ascends holy mountains with Shugendo ascetics, and meets one of Japan’s last living itako, a traditional mystic. She offers a roadmap to a form of spiritual flexibility, by turns ancient and new, mystical and grounded. Hiroko shares personal stories, cultural history, reverence towards nature, and life lessons for readers of any background.

Hiroko awakens readers to the idea of a spiritual flexibility that can nourish them through life’s inevitable ups and downs, wherever they might be, whatever their personal faiths may be. We are all subject to many forces beyond our control, but we are also part of a bigger natural system that can strengthen us—if we first learn how to connect with it.

Story Locale:Japan, United States

About the Author

Hiroko Yoda is a certified Shinto cultural historian and former Tokyo editor for CNN Go. She owns the localization company AltJapan. She has written for The New York Times, The New Yorker, and she’s appeared on PBS, BBC, and National Geographic TV. She is the author of illustrated books about Japanese folklore. She was raised in Japan, earned a Masters from American University, and lives in Tokyo.

Author Residence: Tokyo

Author Hometown: Tokyo