A visit to the "longevity village" of Japan

I'm writing this week from an island home to the "longevity village": Ogimi, Okinawa. Have they found the secret to the "fountain of youth" in their diet and sense of purpose?

Traveling with local guides, we explored Ogimi village on ebikes today, stopping to look at wild plants, visit home gardens, and meet with elders in the community about food and health traditions of their childhood and of today.

I traveled from mainland Japan to Okinawa first by plane, landing in Naha, and then by taxi driving an hour north into the most heavily forested part of the island. I’m here to learn more about the plants, people, and health traditions that keep such a high percentage of the local population alive and in good health into their 90’s and even 100’s! Others have written about this community, using different lenses to understanding the path to longevity:

• Rob Goss wrote a great piece in National Geographic Magazine in 2020 focusing on the ties between resilience and longevity in, “This island unlocked the secret to long life—and knows how to get through tough times”

• Dan Buettner has written about Ogimi (Okinawa) and other “Blue Zones” in a series of books of the same name theme which focus on diet and lifestyle, such as The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer from the People Who’ve Lived the Longest, Thrive: Finding Happiness the Blue Zones Way, The Blue Zones Solution: Eating and Living Like the World’s Healthiest People, and The Blue Zones of Happiness. I actually had a lovely meeting with one of the elder women (now aged 96) who inspired a few recipes in his book, The Blue Zones Kitchen: 100 Recipes to Live to 100.

• Héctor García and Francesc Miralles wrote about the Japanese concept of Ikigai (keeping your hands busy/having purpose in life) from a psychological perspective, and their book was informed by a visit to Ogimi: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Healthy Life.

Others have taken a scientific approach to investigating the unusually high lifespan here. For example, Paul Cox and James Metcalf undertook an ethnobotanical survey of potentially neuroprotective L-serine rich foods consumed in the Ogimi diet in their paper: Traditional Food Items in Ogimi, Okinawa: l-Serine Content and the Potential for Neuroprotection.

Most notably, The Okinawa Centenarian Study (OCS) has evaluated the health behaviors and outcomes of more than 1,000 centenarians on the island since 1975. The goal of the OCS is described thus:

The OCS looks for underlying commonalities in their diets, exercise habits, genetics, psychological and spiritual practices, and social and behavioral patterns. By studying exceptionally-aged individuals in a multidisciplinary biological, social, and cultural context, the OCS seeks insight into processes promoting disease prevention and healthy life extension.

One of the key underlying factors thought to contribute to longevity in Okinawa, and especially in Ogimi, is the diet. It is rich in complex carbohydrates, fruit and vegetables, and fish. But, there are other components, such as green tea and a tart local citrus (Citrus depressa, locally known as shikuwasa, pronounced she-ku-wah-sah) that is also important. Shikuwasa juice contributes high levels of antioxidant and anti-inflammatory molecules to the diet.

The immature fruits of Citrus depressa in the Rutaceae plant family. These tart limes will be harvested in September, or left to mature a bit longer (into December) when

You asked, here are the answers!

I sent out a request to paid subscribers to send me questions in the chat thread of Nature’s Pharmacy. Here are their questions, and my somewhat surprising answers about food traditions in the village!