Comfort, healing, gratification

Today's word is inspired by the personal finance book I've just reviewed over on Just Hungry.

癒す　いやす　iyasu

It means to comfort or heal. In current vernacular, it's used a lot in with a passive voice:

癒される　いやされる　iyasareru　

- to be comforted by something or someone.

In the Saving Techniques book linked to above, the author uses the passive term 癒される　quite a lot. She has a habit of spending money on things that she thinks will comfort her, make her feel better. For example, she is 癒される　by a coffee and cake at her favorite 喫茶店　(きっさてん　kissaten, coffee/tea shop); a latte at a international coffee-selling chain, the act of buying several bottles of aromatherapy scents (which she plans to use later for to be 癒される　some more); a bar of chocolate. Of course, the point she is making is that she's wasting money for that feeling of immediate gratification. So she switches to ways she is 癒される　that don't involve spending money, such as cleaning up her cluttered apartment, or just going outdoors and taking a walk.

The term 癒される　is used quite a lot in marketing in Japan. All kinds of things are supposed to give you that feeling, from music to food to　anime to stuffed plushies to... you get the idea.

By what things or actions are you 癒される？

Comments

[キャリー]

Hi Maki,

Great post! What a great word to learn. I also enjoyed the book review on "Just Hungry." I am still a beginner Japanese learner so using the correct particles are tough for me >_< can you give a sample sentences with いやされる.

Would this be this correct?
私は　コーヒーに　いやされます

Thanks!

[maki]

> 私は　コーヒーに　いやされます

yes that's correct :)

[Cho]

Can this also be used with people, or only inanimate objects? i.e watashi ha person ni iyasaremasu? Thank you!

[maki]

Well, grammatically you could be 癒される　by a person...but it takes on sexual implications, if you know what I mean (to be eh, comforted by...) so I'd recommend you don't use it in relation to a person, unless you mean it that way ^_^;

[wintersweet]

I was surprised to hear a Japanese friend refer to some kinds of TV shows and music as "healing," which sounded strange in English but also kind of made sense. Kind of the equivalent of "comfort food"; we just don't have a general term for it. Or if we do, we kind of look down on it--things like "easy listening" are considered embarrassing to listen to. :p

[djheydt]

Actually, we do have a phrase equivalent to "comfort {books,tv,whatever}". It's "mind candy." Used to describe, for instance, the books you'd buy for a long boring plane or train trip. Several volumes in the series, if it's going to be a *long* trip.

[maki]

I think that things that 癒す are a bit different from mind candy, which implies something that is sort of useless but diverting. But they can be used for similar things.

[Eve]

こちらコーヒーとチョコレートは癒させるものです

I think that's right anyway ^_^