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LESS THAN TWO months ago, the world’s oldest person (at the time) died.
Tomiko Itooka made it to 116. She died Dec. 29 at a care home in Ashiya, Hyogo Prefecture, in central Japan, according to the Associated Press.
She was a high school volleyball player, had four children, and later climbed 10,062-foot Mount Ontake twice. Photos show her upright and aware at her 116th birthday party. By all accounts, she led a good, active life.
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The news got me thinking about the factors that go into long, healthy lives. And how so many of those lives are lived in Japan.
According to Pew Research, Japan is No. 1 in the world when it comes to people in their 100s, at about 146,000, easily outdistancing the runner-up, the U.S., which counts its 100-year-olds as somewhere between 101,000 and 108,000, depending on who’s doing the counting.
China (60,000), India (48,000) and Thailand (38,000) round out the estimated top five.
India, China and the U.S. are the three most populous nations on the planet, so that makes sense. But Japan is 12th.
Pew Research says there are about 12 centenarians for every 10,000 people in Japan, compared to three in the U.S. and fewer than one in China and India.
Japan is obviously doing something different than the rest of us.
The benefits of ‘blues zones’
Japanese archipelago Okinawa is one of the world’s five “blue zones,” with high concentrations of centenarians. The others are Sardinia in Italy, Ikaria in Greece, Nicoya in Costa Rica, and a community of Seventh-day Adventists in Loma Linda, California.
Is there something in the water? Did they outlaw TikTok? What’s the secret?
It seems simple. People in these areas eat a lot of fresh vegetables, legumes (beans, peas, lentils and chickpeas), whole grains, and nuts.
They don’t eat much meat and, when they do, it’s usually fish. They typically don’t eat as many calories as the rest of the world — about 80% of what we eat, according to Healthline, which also said the smallest blue zone meal typically comes late in the afternoon or early evening. Then they don’t eat for the rest of the day.
Most of those areas don’t drink a lot of alcohol. Exercise is built into daily life, and they get lots of sleep – including frequent naps (nice). Young people mix with older people, they have spirituality in their lives and frequently socialize.
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That doesn’t sound so hard. Except for maybe all those vegetables.
Okinawa has been the focus of an ongoing study, the Okinawa Centenarian Study (OCS), since 1975 by the Okinawa Research Center for Longevity Science (ORCLS).
I asked a Japan expert why its people live so long. Robert Moorehead was an associate professor in the College of International Relations at Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto for more than eight years (as well as my good friend since we were 11).
Moorehead, now a sociology professor at College of DuPage near Chicago, said he never took a doggie bag home from a restaurant in Japan in nearly nine years of living there, because portions are so much smaller — something he said could be attributed to food shortages during World War II.
“The Japanese diet is healthier than ours,” Moorehead said. “People go to the market regularly, not just once a week, eat fresher food, and eat human-size portions as opposed to the ginormous portions we get served here.”
Japan is No. 1 in the world when it comes to people in their 100s, at about 146,000, easily outdistancing the runner-up, the U.S., with somewhere between 101,000 and 108,000.
He said Japanese cities are built for walking, bicycling and public transit, which he called “incredibly different” from Americans driving everywhere.
“Speed limits in Japan are low and streets are designed with pedestrian visibility in mind,” Moorehead said. “In my neighborhood in northern Kyoto, I saw elderly people walking and on bikes, even if going really slowly.”
Healthy habits as a way of life
Moorehead said exercise is part of everyone’s daily routine. Going to the store means walking.
Japan also has universal health care.
“Japanese health insurance covers 70% of the cost of care, and the 30% you have to pay is so much cheaper than here it’s ridiculous,” Morehead said. “You also get annual health checkups at work.”
The flip side is, with so many elderly people, many die alone. But local officials are working the problem.
“The city where I did my fieldwork had local committees where they tried to keep track of all the elderly people living alone to get them involved and not be isolated,” Moorehead said.
It’s a great idea. The U.S. needs to learn to keep better track of its older people. Because we’re about to have a lot more of them. And as we all remember from the pandemic, isolation is bad for humans of all ages.
What does a longer lifespan mean to you? Two talented columnists tag-team every Friday to tackle the challenges that inform your choices — whether you’re pushing 17 or 70. Recent Stanford Center on Longevity Visiting Scholar Susan Nash looks at life experiences through an acerbic personal lens, while longtime writer and health reporter Tony Hicks takes the macro view to examine how society will change as the aging population grows ever larger. Check in every Friday to expand your vision of living the long game and send us your feedback, column suggestions and ideas for future coverage to newsroom@baycitynews.com.
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