This series explores the three dimensions of a fulfilling life inspired by Shigehiro Oishi’s book Life in 3 Dimensions and my own experiences living in Japan, moving to the United States, and working between both cultures.
I listened to the middle section of the book during another early walk through Lafayette. The streets were still quiet, and the narrator’s voice carried Oishi’s ideas in a way that invited me to reflect more deeply. In this chapter, he describes psychological richness as a life marked by varied experiences, complexity, and shifts in perspective. It is not built on predictability or comfort. It grows through engagement with difference.
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This series explores the three dimensions of a fulfilling life inspired by Shigehiro Oishi’s book Life in 3 Dimensions and my own experiences living in Japan, moving to the United States, and working between both cultures.
I listened to Life in 3 Dimensions for the first time during a morning walk in my Lafayette neighborhood. It was cool and quiet, the kind of morning where eucalyptus leaves crackle under your shoes and the hills look soft in the hazy light. I had expected a book about happiness, maybe something gentle and encouraging. Instead, I found myself listening to ideas that cut right to the center of something I have been thinking about for most of my life: the search for meaning.
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If you read my recent reflection on doing ohaka‑mairi with my husband’s family at Engaku‑ji, you’ll know the day already had a calm and thoughtful atmosphere. But right before heading back to Tokyo, a quick stop at the gift shop turned into a small cascade of discoveries about patience, protection, and some surprisingly vital information about omamori care that I had somehow never learned. I also found a noren that felt like it was speaking directly to me. Let’s just say I returned home with more than I expected.
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It’s Fun Friday, and today I’m celebrating two small things on my desk that quietly set the tone for my day.
First up is my perpetual Totoro calendar. Solid, cheerful, and endlessly reusable, it sits there calmly marking the date with its little wooden blocks, completely unbothered by deadlines or meetings. There’s something deeply comforting about it. No flipping pages, no pressure. Just a gentle reminder of what day it is, delivered with Studio Ghibli charm. Totoro has a way of making even the most ordinary morning feel a little softer.
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Some people measure domestic happiness in flowers or love notes. I, apparently, measure it in how fast a pot of kinoko gohan disappears from my refrigerator.
And this all started because I was browsing JustOneCookbook.com again and finally tried their kinoko gohan recipe. I’m so happy I did, though I’m beginning to suspect the ripple effects are going to keep complicating my leftover planning for the foreseeable future. And yet here I am, a week later, marveling at how this humble mushroom rice keeps sabotaging my meticulously choreographed leftover strategy. I had plans for that next day bento. My husband, evidently, had other plans… namely, opening the fridge at odd hours and quietly “just having a little bowl,” a ritual that has left me with an increasingly abstract relationship to portion control.
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This week’s Working Wednesday took me somewhere quietly extraordinary. I spent the day visiting a series of private gardens with landscape gardener Yoshi Kuroishi, who trained in Japan and now works with elite clientele here in my area.
What struck me immediately was not just the beauty, though the beauty was undeniable. It was the intentionality.
Looking at these gardens, you sense that nothing is accidental. Every stone is placed with care. Every curve of water, every layer of planting, every change in texture invites you to slow down and really observe. Standing near still ponds framed by rocks and spring blossoms, it became clear that these spaces are not designed for quick impact, but for long term presence.
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I often talk about how much Japanese professionals invest in communicating globally, but real partnership means the effort cannot flow only in one direction. Global colleagues need opportunities too. Which is why I am so proud of the Learn Japanese in 3 Hours session that our Japan Consulting Office colleague Aska Tsuchiya created, and that Midori Yamanaka now teaches so expertly for our teams in the US.
And the demand is unbelievable. We cannot keep up with the bookings. Every time we open a new slot, it fills immediately, including the most recent sessions for our client Mizuho Americas.
Of course, it is impossible to learn Japanese in just three hours. Everyone knows that. But that is not the point of the session. What makes it so effective is the method itself. It removes the fear and overwhelm that often come with Japanese. It gives people a structured, confidence‑boosting starting point that finally feels manageable. For many, it is the first time Japanese feels accessible instead of intimidating.
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A Japanese expat manager recently received a surprise during their annual performance review in the U.S.: a comment from their American team that they were “distant and hard to approach.” The manager was stunned. In Japan, maintaining formality and emotional restraint is often seen as professional. In the U.S., it can be interpreted as cold or disengaged.
This moment revealed a deeper issue: the feedback gap between jinji and U.S. HR.
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In a recent ruling, Mizuho Bank Ltd. successfully defended itself against a discrimination and retaliation lawsuit brought by a former U.S.-based vice president. While the legal outcome favored Mizuho, the case highlights a deeper issue that many global Japanese companies face: the perception of bias and the need for culturally intelligent HR practices. 最近の判決において、みずほ銀行株式会社は、米国拠点の元副社長による差別および報復に関する訴訟に対して、成功裏に自己防衛を果たしました。法的な結果はみずほ銀行に有利なものでしたが、このケースは、多くのグローバルな日本企業が直面しているより深刻な課題を浮き彫りにしています。それは、偏見の認識と、文化的知性を備えた人事施策の必要性です。
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