Centenarians are rising in Japan

• 16/09/2008 - 00:00
• Author: Yuki Sakuma
• Japan
• 1 Comments
• Read in IT

The Centenarian (people age 100 or older) population is rising in Japan, says the Japanese Department of Health. And what's more, is the sprightly centenarians will continue to rise in the future.

    

The Japanese Department of Health started to compile a list of centenarians in 1963, when they were more or less 153 in number.
Today in Japan there are 36,276 centenarians, most of them women. The majority of them lives in the Okinawa prefecture with its 61.3 venerable oldies per 100,000 people; while in the Saitama prefecture they are only 14.22 per 100,000.

Mr Tomoji Tanabe, born on the 18th of september 1895, is the oldest man in Japan: he is 113 years old, and compared to them, his 100 years old collegues seem just youngsters.
Tanabe lives in Miyakonojo, Miyazaki prefecture, where every day he follows his consolidated ritual:
He reads a newspaper, writes his diary and drinks 200 ml of milk at 3 p.m. Is this the secret of his longevity?
These are the facts: Japanese population is one of the most long-lived in the whole world; maybe this is due to their lifestyle, the food that is particulary healty and fat-free, among other things that help the population reach a venerable age while consistently being perfectly healthy.
The proof could be found even in TV commercials, a lot of publicized products are dietary supplements, healthy food, and organic beverages that allows you to maintain a perfectly fit body.
So, if you plan on living more than 100 years, move to Japan now! Or do as my grandfather's favourite motto: "mind your own business and you'll live 100 years." And he is still alive. :)

Head image by Alpio