---
title: "SHIAWASE NO IMI"

meaning: "KŌAN A: Luke's first Japanese song: ignore the ringing phone, then a familiar voice says change now; come to another world, 幸せの意味, I'll show ya."

year: 2022
release: "KŌAN"
releaseType: "album"

artist: "Scoobert Doobert"
artistId: "#scoobert"

credits: "Written, performed, and mixed by Luke Francis Walton. Mastered by Riley Knapp. Artwork by Grizzard Graphics."

spotify: "https://open.spotify.com/album/2wGa9TxP1UvCn1hnfyyV6v"
youtube: "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JP4KYqgHevQ"
officialVideo: "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JP4KYqgHevQ"
apple: "https://music.apple.com/us/album/kōan/1618191665"

themes: ["KŌAN", "Japan", "happiness", "change", "Japanese"]

isrc: QZDA42257783
isrcSource: soundexchange
lyrics: |
  いつもの朝
  鳴り止まない電話
  出ないまま無視して
  イライラして、もういいや

  スマホを手にとって
  少し考えた僕は
  なぜかわからないまま
  君と話していたんだ

  君の声は
  聞き覚えのある声
  どこか懐かしい声
  どこか優しい声

  君はこう言ったね
  今何かを変える時
  君の未来が君を待ってる
  今何かを変える時

  Come to another world with me
  A place where you can finally be happy
  幸せの意味
  見せるよ
  I'll show ya

  Come to another world with me
  A place where you can finally be happy
  幸せの意味
  見せるよ
  I'll show ya

  平凡な日々
  白黒な日々
  変えるのは怖くて
  だからできなくて

  君はこう言ったね
  今何かを変える時
  君の未来が君を待ってる
  今何かを変える時

  Come to another world with me
  A place where you can finally be happy
  幸せの意味
  見せるよ
  I'll show ya

  Come to another world with me
  A place where you can finally be happy
  幸せの意味
  見せるよ
  I'll show ya
  I'll show ya

draft: false

---

Track four on [*KŌAN*](/albums/koan/), **KŌAN A** (March 2022). Luke solo. Bandcamp notes call this **Scoobert's first song written in Japanese**, and the title means roughly **the meaning of happiness** (幸せ *shiawase*, happiness; 意味 *imi*, meaning). Same Japan/Zen season as [無門関](/songs/mumonkan/) and [*What Makes You You*](/songs/what-makes-you-you/); longer arc in [The Bent Stick](/writing/the-bent-stick/).

The verses move from a morning of ignoring the phone to picking it up and, without knowing why, finding a familiar voice on the other end. It tells you the same thing twice (*今何かを変える時*, now is the time to change something) in wellness-poster Japanese, the [*Don't Worry*](/songs/dont-worry/) register of commands that don't land, except here it's sung sincerely. Verse two names the stuck place between ordinary, black-and-white days and the fear that keeps you in them.

The bilingual hook is the whole offer: *come to another world with me, a place where you can finally be happy. 幸せの意味, 見せるよ, I'll show ya.* The promise ends on *I'll show ya* twice, an offer, never a definition: happiness defined by whoever shows it to you. Middle of the LP hinge between [*Think About It*](/songs/think-about-it/) and [*Keep Calm Atomic Bomb*](/songs/keep-calm-atomic-bomb/) ([*KŌAN* essay](/albums/koan/)), and after [*Boardwalk*](/songs/boardwalk/)'s idle beach, *another world* as movement inward rather than along the sand.

---