Japan continues its over 20-year run as the global champion of long life. The latest World Health Organization report puts Japan’s average life expectancy at birth at 83.7 years. Japanese women can expect to live to 86.8 years, longer than their menfolk, whose average life expectancy is 80.5 years. For context, the global average male life expectancy is 69.1 years, 73.8 years for women and 71.4 for both sexes combined.
In 1963, there were only 153 people aged 100 or older across Japan. By 2016, the number of centenarians had zoomed up to 65,692. The secret of long life in Japan is a matter of some debate and likely stems from a mixture of diet, policy, exercise, cultural factors and genetics, making it difficult to single out one cause. Rice, vegetables, fish and meat are staples of the Japanese diet, but given that Japan is an archipelago, residents consume more fish than the norm in most other nations. Pickled, fermented and smoked foods are also common. Fermented foods, in particular, support a healthy digestive system. Soybeans in the form are another key part of any meal. Overall, Japanese cuisine is low in calories and saturated fats, a significant factor in reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease.
A 2011 paper in the medical journal,
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More ineffable reasons for long life include certain social and cultural traits. Ageing expert Professor Shiro Horiuchi argues in a paper in the Japanese
Unalloyed blessing
Longevity is, however, not an unalloyed blessing. Japan’s is one of the world’s most rapidly ageing societies. Over a quarter of the population is already 65 or older. In Tokyo alone, some 3.1 million residents will be over the age of 65 by 2025. Two decades of economic stagnation and a shrinking working age population are threatening the financial and social underpinnings of universal healthcare. Moreover, Japan’s “healthy life expectancy” is only 74.9 years which, although well ahead of the 63.1 global figure, means that on average the Japanese spend their last 8.8 years living in ill-health, often bed-ridden.
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Prolonging “healthy life expectancy” and figuring out how to pay the bill for it are both tough challenges. Sushi might be nutritious enough, but the Japanese will need plenty of additional food for thought in devising ways to tackle them.