An artist sketching the Shibuya crossing. Image by the author “Everyone may be ordinary, but they are not normal”, Haruki Murakimi If you ask one word which can be ascribed to Japanese way of life, then it is not Ikigai . It is not Omiyari either. For me it is 'Rhythm'. Rhythm, according to Cambridge dictionary is " a strong pattern of sounds , words, or musical notes that is used in music , poetry , and dancing " Rhythm in more crude form is a pattern. If two objects or people while in an action, follow the same pattern then we say that both are in rhythm to each other. So far, I have visited five major cities of Japan and everywhere I found an unseen river of rhythm flowing below the alleys of human lives. Be it the busiest pedestrian crossing of the world-Shibuya, be it the ever-bustling Dotombori market of Osaka or be it the somber and pristine locales of Kyoto...