Fumitake Koga
2
Books Reviewed
The Courage to Be Happy
4.6/5
reader rating · 3,396 ratingsThe Courage to Be Happy is the follow-up to the international bestseller and TikTok sensation The Courage to Be Disliked, co-authored by Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koga, using the same Socratic dialogue format to explore Alfred Adler's conclusion about "the biggest choice in life" and what it means to pursue genuine happiness. It earns attention as a standalone deepening of ideas that clearly resonated with a global audience.
Reviewed Aug 2, 2026
The Courage to Be Disliked: The Japanese Phenomenon That Shows You How
4.5/5
reader rating · 188 ratingsThe Courage to Be Disliked is a New York Times bestselling self-help book by Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koga that uses a Socratic dialogue between a youth and a philosopher to present the core principles of Alfred Adler's psychology — arguing that happiness, freedom, and personal change are available to anyone willing to stop seeking others' approval and take full responsibility for their own choices.
Reviewed Jun 6, 2026
Ask LuvemBooks about Fumitake Koga
- Where should I start?
- Start with The Courage to Be Disliked, the first collaboration between Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koga and a New York Times bestseller. It lays out the core principles of Adler's psychology — happiness, freedom, and change through taking responsibility for your own choices — and The Courage to Be Happy is explicitly a follow-up that builds on it, so reading it first gives you the foundation. It holds a 4.5/5 reader rating from 188 Amazon ratings.
- What's their writing style?
- Across both reviewed books, Koga and Kishimi use a Socratic dialogue format — a back-and-forth between a youth and a philosopher — to present Alfred Adler's psychology. Rather than lecturing, they let ideas about happiness, freedom, and personal change emerge through argument and questioning. It's an approach that turns dense psychological theory into a conversation readers can follow.
- Books we've reviewed
- We've reviewed 2 books co-authored by Fumitake Koga and Ichiro Kishimi. The Courage to Be Disliked uses a Socratic dialogue to argue that happiness and freedom are available to anyone who stops seeking others' approval — 4.5/5 reader rating from 188 Amazon ratings. The Courage to Be Happy is the follow-up, using the same format to explore Adler's conclusion about "the biggest choice in life" — 4.6/5 reader rating from 3,396 Amazon ratings.
- How do their books compare?
- The Courage to Be Disliked is the foundation: it introduces the core principles of Adlerian psychology — freedom from approval-seeking and full responsibility for your own choices. The Courage to Be Happy is a follow-up that assumes that foundation and pushes into Adler's conclusion about "the biggest choice in life," though it works as a standalone deepening too. Both use the same youth-and-philosopher dialogue, so the choice is really about whether you want the introduction or the extension of the argument.
- What genre do they write?
- Fumitake Koga writes non-fiction, with their bio noting numerous bestselling works of business-related and general non-fiction. On LuvemBooks, both reviewed titles fall under Self-Help & Personal Development, specifically books that present Alfred Adler's psychology to general readers through dialogue.
- What should I read after The Courage to Be Disliked?
- The natural next step is The Courage to Be Happy, the direct follow-up by the same authors. It uses the same Socratic dialogue format to explore Adler's conclusion about "the biggest choice in life" and what genuine happiness means, so it picks up right where the first book's ideas leave off. Those are the 2 books we've reviewed, in that order.
Who is Fumitake Koga?
Follow up
Synthesized from verified book data & published reviews · How we review
Press Enter to ask. Answers come from our editorial Q&A — start typing to see related questions.
Authors Like Fumitake Koga
Ichiro Kishimi
Ichiro Kishimi is a Japanese philosopher and psychologist specializing in Western ancient philosophy and Adlerian psychology.
2 books reviewed
Don Miguel Ruiz
Miguel Ángel Ruiz Macías, better known as Don Miguel Ruiz, is a Mexican author of Toltec spiritual and personal development texts..
1 book reviewed
don Miguel Ruiz
Brené Brown
Casandra Brené Brown is an American academic and podcaster who is the Huffington Foundation's Brené Brown Endowed Chair at the University of Houston's Graduate College of Social Work and a visiting professor in management at the McCombs School of Business in the University of Texas at Austin..
3 books reviewed
Héctor García
Héctor García was born in Spain, worked at CERN in Switzerland, and has lived in Japan for over 22 years. He is the author of several books focused on Japanese culture, including the international bestseller Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life (co-written with Francesc Miralles), with over 10 million copies sold worldwide. He has also written A Geek in Japan, Ichigo Ichie, and The Spirit of Shinto.
1 book reviewed
Francesc Miralles
Francesc Miralles Contijoch is a Spanish writer, essayist, translator, and musician.
1 book reviewed