Learn about Longevity from Okinawans

Hello everyone!

I love to read wellness books and recently I found a very interesting book. Its title is : “Health Habits That Prevents Early Death”.

The subtitle says “Look like 70 years old even in 90s!”, sounds fascinating, doesn’t it?

This book is about elderlies in Ogimi village of Okinawa prefecture, which is located in one of southern islands of Japan. Okinawa is known as one of The Blue Zones, the area of longevity. According to this book, one tenth of Ogimi villagers is over 85 years old and most of them are still healthy.

This books tells 39 tips of health and longevity of Ogimi villagers, including :

• Eat various kinds of fish, mainly blueback, to consume DHA and EPA
• Balanced diet : meat, fish, milk, veggies to gain muscles
• Be curious
• Be involved in social activities
• Do not retire : work or do housework at any age.

Healthy and balanced foods, moderate exercise and social activities are key, as we aware. Unfortunately, this book was published in 2012 and seems to be out-of-print now. I hope it will be published in Ebook again and translated into English so that many people can read.

If you are interested in the elderlies in Ogimi village, I recommend you to visit this restaurant called “Emi No Mise (Emi’s shop)”. The foods are cooked by elderlies in Ogimi village. I have not visited this restaurant yet, but I will surely do when I visit Okinawa next time (unfortunately Okinawa is now in the State of Emergency because of COVID-19, so please check official information if you plan to go there.)

Okinawa is a very beautiful island where I would love to go after COVID. Here is the picture of Kafu Banta taken some years ago when I visited there:

Okinawa has so many charms such as beautiful beaches and tasty foods. Additionally, learning about longevity directly from elderlies will be an fascinating theme when you visit there. The village is offering a homestay program, so it will be an interesting experience. (at least I am very interested in this program.)

Happy aging!