TEHRAN-The non-fiction book “Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life,” written by Hector Garcia and Francesc Miralles has been turned into an audiobook in Persian and released on digital services and platforms.

The audiobook has been directed and narrated by Bahman Vakhshour and produced at Avaye Chirok, a major Iranian institute that produces audiobooks.

The Persian print edition of “Ikigai” has been translated by Amirhossein Taghilou and Meysam Kalantari and published by Gusheh Publications in Tehran.

It is a short book about making life meaningful and in the process, living a long time. Centered around the Japanese concept of Ikigai, the authors bring the knowledge from the East to the West giving readers the tools to live better.

According to the Japanese, everyone has an ikigai–a reason for living. And according to the residents of the Japanese island of Okinawa–home to the world’s longest-living people–finding it is the key to a happier and longer life.

Inspiring and soothing, the book will bring readers closer to these centenarians’ secrets: how they leave urgency behind; keep doing what they love for as long as possible; nurture friendships; live in the moment; participate in their communities; and throw themselves into their passions. And it provides practical tools to help people discover their own personal ikigai.

Hector Garcia is a citizen of Japan, where he has lived for over a decade, and of Spain, where he was born. A former software engineer, he worked at CERN in Switzerland before moving to Japan, where he developed voice recognition software and the technology needed for Silicon Valley start-ups to enter the Japanese market. He is the creator of the popular blog kirainet.com and the author of “A Geek in Japan,” a #1 bestseller in Japan.

Francesc Miralles is an award-winning author who has written a number of bestselling self-help and inspirational books. Born in Barcelona, he studied journalism, English literature, and German, and has worked as an editor, a translator, a ghostwriter, and a musician. His novel “Love in Lowercase” has been translated into 20 languages.

SS/SAB