{"id":2,"date":"2016-08-25T19:04:06","date_gmt":"2016-08-25T19:04:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pickclick.net\/wordpress\/?page_id=2"},"modified":"2016-08-29T13:58:12","modified_gmt":"2016-08-29T13:58:12","slug":"index-php","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/pickclick.net\/wordpress\/","title":{"rendered":"The 10 reasons for longevity in Japanese"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s no secret that\u00a0the people of the land of the rising sun tend to outlive pretty much everyone else. For years, people in the West have been looking at the Japanese and scratching their heads, witnessing as Japan rose from having one of the lowest life expectancies post-WWII, to topping the charts globally.<\/p>\n

What gives? Although there are no definite answers, years of scientific research and anecdotal evidence have revealed some\u00a0answers \u2014 and tips for the rest of us.<\/p>\n

#1. They eat a lot\u00a0of vegetables.<\/h3>\n

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\nJapan Centre<\/a><\/p>\n

Traditionally, the Japanese eat\u00a0lots of rice, veg and fish \u2014 generally in that order \u2014\u00a0and Japan\u2019s infatuation with fermented soy\u00a0and seaweed means they have no lack of\u00a0vitamins, minerals, and beneficial phytochemicals.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately,\u00a0from the 19th century onward, there has been an increase in unhealthy Western habits \u2014 breaded and battered meats and more recently, white bread, refined sugars, and copious amounts of sweets.<\/p>\n

#2.\u00a0They cook their food differently.<\/h3>\n

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\nHoshino Resorts<\/a><\/p>\n

Tempura, tonkatsu<\/em> and croquettes notwithstanding, Japanese food involves a lot of steaming, pan-grilling, broiling, stir-frying, slow-cooking, and fermenting.\u00a0They also have a\u00a0habit of making at least one bowl of soup and usually they prepare small dishes. It helps when they couple their veg and fish intake with lots of fiber from beans, rice, and often beans\u00a0and<\/em> rice.<\/p>\n

#3.\u00a0They drink\u00a0a lot of tea.<\/h3>\n

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\nLove and Will<\/a><\/p>\n

While coffee isn\u2019t necessarily bad, there\u2019s a huge tea drinking culture in Japan \u2014 and good quality Japanese tea contains far more antioxidants than coffee. This is especially true for Japan\u2019s tea-time specialty: matcha, which is a fine (and often expensive) powdered tea made of young leaves grown specifically to increase their chlorophyll and antioxidant content by depriving them of sunlight.<\/p>\n

#4.\u00a0Their food is fresh.<\/h3>\n

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\nIsshou Genki<\/a><\/p>\n

It\u2019s seriously, seriously fresh. And seasonal. Being a relatively small archipelago with a large amount of arable land, there isn\u2019t much need for food to travel very far before it enters people\u2019s mouths, and that can be said for Japan\u2019s veg as much as it can be said for its fish and grain. In Japanese markets, food isn\u2019t dated by the day \u2014 it\u2019s dated by the half-hour according to\u00a0Naomi Moriyama, who wrote a book entitled:\u00a0Japanese Women Don\u2019t Get Old or Fat.<\/em><\/p>\n

#5.\u00a0They\u2019ve got smaller plates.<\/h3>\n

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\nThe Everyday Minimalist<\/a><\/p>\n

Portion control is a traditional part of Japanese cuisine. Etiquette is a huge part of Japanese living, and part of that is the careful use of chopsticks, the practice of eating from a small plate or rice bowl, only garnishing food lightly, serving each item on its own little dish, never completely filling a plate or serving large portions.<\/p>\n

In Okinawa, the locals attribute part of their longevity to the saying:\u00a0hara hachi bu<\/em>, meaning \u201ceat until you are 80% full\u201d.<\/p>\n

#6.\u00a0They walk, stand,\u00a0and squat more.<\/h3>\n

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\nTravel Japan Blog<\/a><\/p>\n

Part of daily Japanese life is the great commute \u2014 getting up, heading to the station, waiting for the train, standing in the train, walking from the next station to work, and getting on with life. Public transport is the norm in Japan. People jump on bikes and hop on trains\u00a0\u2014\u00a0a car is considered a\u00a0luxury. Many employees, such as those at Canon, workstanding up<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Even going to the bathroom is different in Japan. While there are a lot of Western-style toilets available, old-school Japanese lavatories involve squatting,\u00a0which is healthier for the bowels.<\/p>\n

#7.\u00a0They\u2019ve got morning exercise \u2014 on the radio.<\/h3>\n

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\nFlickr<\/a><\/p>\n

Called\u00a0rajio taiso<\/em>, Japan literally has on-the-air exercise routines that are completed in massive groups every morning. The majority of Japanese partake, and there are several degrees of difficulty for different people. Originally a (now defunct) MetLife, Inc. product straight out of Massachusetts, visiting Japanese employees of the Ministry of Communications and Transportation brought radio calisthenics to Japan in the 1920s.<\/p>\n

The benefits are obvious \u2014 an increased level of athleticism, alertness and energy, alongside better flexibility and focus at the workplace and in school.<\/p>\n

#8.\u00a0They\u2019ve got universal healthcare.<\/h3>\n

\"j-hospital-860x480\"
\nMetropolisJapan<\/a><\/p>\n

Since the 1960s, Japan has had a mandatory healthcare system that gobbles up only 8% of the GDP (less than half of what America pays for its current system) while keeping people very much healthy. The average Japanese person visits their doctor\u00a0over a dozen times a year for check-ups, four times as much as in the States.<\/p>\n

#9.\u00a0They spend more time outside.<\/h3>\n

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\nNozawa Holidays<\/a><\/p>\n

In addition to walking practically everywhere, it\u2019s a Japanese custom to eat out with friends rather than invite them in. Japanese living spaces are modest, while restaurant prices are relatively cheap \u2014 so socializing outside is a regular occurrence. While the effect of hanging out with people hasn\u2019t been tested on Japanese longevity, social coherence and friendships are important for emotional health.<\/p>\n

#10.\u00a0They focus on cleanliness.<\/h3>\n

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\nGay Travel Herald<\/a><\/p>\n

The Japanese are\u00a0obsessed<\/em> with cleanliness, and it\u2019s for the better. Their cultural methods are largely based on\u00a0the centuries-old traditions of Shintoism, a large part of which is the concept of purification. In Japan, it\u2019s not uncommon to bathe twice a day in the summer. Communal baths are a regular\u00a0thing, and the guidelines and rules within them are strict.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s no secret that\u00a0the people of the land of the rising sun tend to outlive pretty much everyone else. For years, people in the West have been looking at the Japanese and scratching their heads, witnessing as Japan rose from having one of the lowest life expectancies post-WWII, to topping the charts globally. What gives? […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pickclick.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pickclick.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pickclick.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pickclick.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pickclick.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pickclick.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pickclick.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}