Member-only story
The Peculiar Response Japanese Centenarians Give When You Ask Them What They Eat
How to eat for a long and happy life
I was recently reminded of Japan’s high longevity rate when I came across a headline in The Japan Times: “Centenarians top 80,000 for first time.” According to information released by Japan’s health ministry in July, Japan’s average life expectancy was 87.45 for women and 81.41 for men in 2019, a record number.
Japanese centenarians fascinate me, and the advice they give to reach longevity is always a fun read, but the truth is that I’ve never felt the need to live to 100 unless I knew I would be with a sound mind and strong body. I didn’t want to be 100 and on tons of medication or be bedridden and unable to go outside — it’s not just life expectancy, but healthy life expectancy.
I did some reading on the idea of a healthy life expectancy and was pleasantly surprised to discover that according to the Japan Cabinet Office’s 2018 Annual Report on the Aging Society, about 70 percent of people aged 60–69 and about 50 percent of those 70 and over are either working or engaged in volunteer activity, community activity (e.g. neighborhood association, local events), or a hobby. I see this in my day-to-day life as well: a large population of seniors who remain active, healthy, and young by all other measures aside from age. They’re my family and my neighbors, and I see them traveling, going out, and enjoying an active life well into their 70s and 80s.
A separate study on Japanese centenarians living in Okinawa, where the researcher went back and analyzed at what age these individuals were able to live independently (cook for themselves, do their own house chores, live in their own home, among other factors), came to another fascinating discovery: The study was only on 22 individuals, but among them, 82 percent were still independent at a mean age of 92 and about two-thirds at a mean age of 97. Okinawa isn’t even the prefecture with the highest longevity rate in Japan (it’s Nagano).
‘I eat everything. And I especially like sweets.’ — Motoi…
