I was recently in Japan, driving around the beautiful Tohuku prefecture and I stopped by Tokyo for a couple of days too.

Anyone who has transited in Tokyo Station will tell you how their heart rate never fails to shoot right up the chart. Everyone seems to know where they are going and every step doubles or triples in speed. There is no room for the laggard or the confused. When I compared this with the fairytale town of Ouchi-Juku in Fukushima where the children lent their playful hands to their grandmothers clearing the snowfall with their spades from their walkway, I can’t help but to ask myself “Is being constantly busy a good thing?”.

In 2003, I took a sabbatical from my work after 10 years of work. As I was in the Advertising industry where work and clients’ deadlines define our lives, I was over the moon when I experienced waking up without having to worry about meeting deadlines and answering clients’ calls.

However, I soon realised that happiness was short-lived because the same things that increased my heart rate were also the same thing that defined my existence. Without them, I found myself asking “Who am I?”