How can we stay motivated in learning?
In this episode of the Ikigai Podcast, Nick speaks with Dr. Yu Kanazawa to explore how his Academic Yarigai framework helps people find purpose, drive, and deeper meaning in their learning journey.
Podcast Highlights
- Yarigai and ikigai. Yu defines and compares the two concepts.
- Academic Yarigai. Yu discusses the Academic Yarigai framework he developed.
- Ikigai-9 as foundation. Yu explains why he chose Ikigai-9 as the basis for developing his scale.
- Verifying the Academic Yarigai framework. Yu explains how he validated the concept of Academic Yarigai.
- Motivation and Academic Yarigai. Yu explains the connection between Academic Yarigai and motivation.
- Yarigai as a tool for teachers and coaches. Yu shares how yarigai can be a useful tool for teachers and coaches.
Dr. Yu Kanazawa
Dr. Yu Kanazawa is an Associate Professor at the Graduate School of Humanities, University of Osaka. He holds a Ph.D. in Language, Communication, and Culture, specializing in Language Education.
He holds Advanced and First-Class Teacher’s Licenses in English for junior and senior high schools, as well as a First-Class Civics License. With extensive EFL teaching experience across secondary and tertiary levels, he combines practical classroom expertise with academic rigor.
His research focuses on emotional philosophy, cognitive psychology, vocabulary acquisition, and the use of ICT in education.
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Yarigai and ikigai
Ikigai is a broad Japanese concept meaning one’s reason for living or life purpose. It reflects a deep sense of meaningful existence, characterized by positive emotions, optimism, personal value, and a feeling of fulfillment that is not tied to money or achievement.
In contrast, yarigai—derived from yari (to do)—is more situational and refers to something worth doing. It focuses on the sense of satisfaction, fulfillment, and growth gained from engaging in specific meaningful tasks or roles. While related to ikigai, yarigai is more task-oriented and commonly used in everyday language.
Yu notes that ikigai is often associated with older generations and existential reflection, whereas yarigai feels more accessible to younger people, who may more easily identify meaningful activities than a singular life purpose.
“Maybe the ikigai usage comes with age; we gain this life wisdom, and then the smile of a grandchild or the sunset is something we value more because we have this knowledge of life.” - Nicholas Kemp
Academic Yarigai
The field of language learning psychology is filled with many increasingly complex and highly subdivided concepts—such as different types of motivation, emotions, and learner identities. While these detailed frameworks are useful for research, they can become impractical for teachers, who may need to administer lengthy questionnaires or interpret overly fine distinctions that offer limited classroom value.
Noticing this fragmentation, Yu wondered whether there could be a single, more practical and integrated concept that captures key elements like enjoyment, flow, meaning, and personal growth. This led him to draw on ideas from well-being research—particularly ikigai and yarigai—which he felt encompass these important qualities in a more holistic way.
Ikigai-9 as foundation
To develop a rigorous academic scale, he needed a solid theoretical foundation. Yu chose the Ikigai-9 because he had encountered it before COVID and found it uniquely comprehensive. Unlike measures that focus only on motivation or emotional well-being, Ikigai-9 encompasses psychological fulfillment, social meaningfulness, personal growth, purpose, and one’s positive influence on others.
He values Ikigai-9 because it aligns with modern cognitive psychology perspectives—such as 4E cognition, which views human thinking as embodied, embedded in social contexts, active, and supported by external tools. Ikigai reflects this richer understanding of human experience, going beyond simple enjoyment or motivation.
However, because ikigai can feel too deep or existential for some contexts, Yu also sees value in adapting it into a more situational form, such as yarigai, for practical use.
Verifying the Academic Yarigai framework
Yu describes his initial study to validate the concept of Academic Yarigai. He surveyed 74 Japanese university students studying English, asking open-ended questions about which academic activities felt yarigai—that is, worthwhile, meaningful, or fulfilling. Students could write freely about any academic experience, including projects in science or engineering.
They were asked what specific elements made an academic activity feel like yarigai and why. Yu then analyzed and categorized their responses. Despite the open-ended nature of the questions, students’ answers aligned surprisingly well with the nine factors of the Ikigai-9 scale, supporting both theoretical and practical compatibility.
Yu found that Academic Yarigai reflects nine interconnected dimensions:
Intrinsic fulfillment – a personal sense of meaning.
Curiosity and intellectual stimulation – epistemic emotions like interest and surprise.
Personal growth and self-development – feeling that one is learning and improving.
Social contribution – a sense of positively impacting others or society.
Engagement and flow – deep absorption or losing track of time.
Recognition and appreciation – feeling acknowledged or valued by others.
Overcoming challenges – finding meaning in tackling difficulties.
Application and real-world relevance – seeing usefulness beyond the classroom.
Sense of purpose in learning – having clear goals and meaningful direction.
Together, these nine factors demonstrate that Academic Yarigai is a coherent, empirically grounded construct.
“We're talking about some misunderstandings in positive psychology—specifically, people thinking that happiness or enjoyment alone is good, when in reality, that mindset often just avoids acknowledging the difficult or unpleasant side of life. People tend to aim for happiness, enjoyment, or pleasure, but it's not only about that. It's also about the eudaimonic side—a deeper, existential sense of meaning.” - Dr. Yu Kanazawa
Motivation and Academic Yarigai
Yu explains that many motivation theories rely on metaphors—such as motivation being an ‘energy’ or ‘fuel’—but these ideas are relatively new and their validity is debated. He argues that motivation may not be a natural psychological category, and that emotions might better explain why people engage in activities.
He also discusses how existing motivational and enjoyment scales can be culturally limited. For example, some validated enjoyment measures include items like ‘I laugh a lot in class,’ which may not accurately represent enjoyment in more reserved cultural contexts.
Yu suggests that the Academic Yarigai Scale, with its nine concise items, avoids some of these issues by focusing on key aspects that students and teachers can reflect on. While the scale could be expanded, its strength lies in being simple, practical, and useful for qualitative reflection rather than overly complex quantitative measurement.
Yarigai as a tool for teachers and coaches
“In everything you do—what you work on, what you love, and what you feel—yarigai is present. It dissolves the usual separation between leisure and work, offering a meaningful approach to well-being.” - Dr. Yu Kanazawa
Although the Academic Yarigai Scale could be further refined through more items and statistical validation, Yu believes its current nine-factor format is already valuable—especially as a qualitative tool rather than a quantitative one. Instead of treating the nine factors as separate components, Yu describes them as “nine gates” or entry points into a holistic sense of yarigai. Different individuals may resonate with different gates, such as fulfillment, curiosity, or overcoming challenges, and teachers or coaches can use these factors to identify strengths and areas for growth.
Yu emphasizes that yarigai is more like an art than a strict science, and the nine factors offer a practical conceptual guide for fostering sustainable motivation and avoiding burnout. He suggests that if someone relies too heavily on only one or two factors, their sense of yarigai may become fragile; broadening their engagement across multiple factors can make their motivation more enduring. He also notes that the framework can be adapted beyond academic settings to professional or personal contexts.
Ultimately, Yu sees yarigai as a pathway to holistic well-being—where work, study, and personal growth are integrated rather than compartmentalized, helping individuals find deeper meaning and satisfaction in what they do.
Conclusion
Academic Yarigai gives teachers a unified way to understand student motivation by bringing together enjoyment, engagement, and wellbeing under one key question: Is this academic task worth doing? Grounded in Japanese philosophy and modern psychology, Dr. Kanazawa’s framework offers a practical, culturally informed tool for creating more meaningful learning experiences.
As research develops, Academic Yarigai may become a valuable lens for understanding how students find meaning in both their studies and their personal growth.