What Makes Japan Special
Case Study 4: What is Impact: Who Decides and Why it Matters
Introduction Wabi-sabi is the Japanese expression of simplicity and serenity. Wabi is an invitation to experience spirit richness instead of materialism. Sabi is concerned with the passage of time, the way all things grow, age, and decay, and how it manifests itself beautifully in objects. It suggests that beauty is hidden beneath the surface of what we see, even in what we initially perceive as broken. Together, these two concepts create an overarching philosophy for approaching life: Accept what is, stay in the present moment, and appreciate the simple, transient stages of life. Kintsugi is the Japanese art of putting broken pieces together with gold—a metaphor for embracing flaws and imperfections. Ten Years in the Making: Building Japan’s Impact Economy , and particularly this case, were written in the spirit of both wabi-sabi and kintsugi . Oxford Saïd Business School alumnus and impact investor Takeshi Igarashi uses both to describe his belief that the beauty of impact investing is fixing a broken world leading to stronger, more resilient people and planet. 1 Perhaps these approaches of simplicity, resilience, and the recognition of the natural order of learning, of testing new ideas, or of
164
Ten Years in the Making
Powered by FlippingBook