The POWER of Ikigai: Optimizing Life Fulfillment with an Integrated User Simulator and Adaptive Hobby Recommender

Ping Chen, Jonathan Leung, Yinan Zhang, Zhiqi Shen

Abstract: Health and longevity are topics of great interest, leading to an exploration of the Japanese concept of ikigai, known for its impact on a fulfilling, extended life. Ikigai levels are dynamic, changing with personal growth and life situations, but traditional assessment methods are time-consuming, discouraging frequent tracking. In this paper, we propose Personalized Optimization and Wellbeing Enhancement Recommendation (POWER), which integrates an ikigai simulator to pre- dict ikigai levels from profile information and a hobby recommender that uses reinforcement learning to adapt recommendations based on continuous user feedback. Our methods, validated through both offline data and an online user study, effectively capture and enhance ikigai.