ONLY in JAPAN
So you want to live a long life perhaps past a hundred years old.
Japan may have some of the answers
Welcome to Sugamo in central Tokyo.
This place is nicknamed the grandma Harajuku.
It's a place where
seniors come for high-fashion.
Sugamo may be in Tokyo, but it's certainly not like neighboring Shibuya or Harajuku.
It retains a lot of the charms of the Showa era
The area may have stayed the same, but most of the residents have gotten older
and that's reflected in what they sell along the main shopping street.
And, this Sugamo neighborhood is a great jumping-off point to ask the question:
Why do Japanese live so long?
Japan is famous for having the longest life expectancy in the world, in fact.
right now, there are two million people over the age of 90 living here in Japan.
That's about 2% of the population - which is crazy!
So, there's got to be a secret to why people live so long.
Some say, it's because everyone drinks green tea daily.
It's served everywhere
and the most popular item in drink vending machines...
is green tea.
Japanese eat smaller portions of food
More seafood and lean meats
It could be the fermented foods they eat, which are healthy for both the heart and the stomach
Japan is also a bath culture.
Showers are nice, but soaking in a bath relieves stress and improves the body's circulation
Natural Hot Springs are everywhere, loaded with minerals good for the skin
Access to affordable and top-notch health care?
That could be a reason, too
Kids learn personal responsibility in school.
Most walk or bicycle there.
Could that be the setup for a long life?
Violence and gun-related deaths are almost non-existent in Japan
Japan has a holiday called "Respect for the Aged Day.
And, in Japan, senior citizens are "Living Treasure"
The government sends them silver "Sake Cups" when they reach 100 years old
Six of the top 10 and twelve of the top 20 oldest people alive....
live in Japan
The oldest,
Supercentenarian "Nabi Tajima" of Kagoshima is the last person alive verified to be born in the 19th century
She's 117 and her secret...
good sleep and three meals a day
But it's got to be more than that, right.
DNA could also play a role
But, it's still a lottery.
Although, Japanese have slightly better odds for those disease-resistant genes
Now one or all of these things might be the secret to living a really long life
But, I'm not really sure.
So, I went to Tottori prefecture to ask the one person who I think knows.
She's a hundred and six years old...
and she was born in the Meiji era.
Certainly,
she has the answers
Tottori Prefecture is on the Sea of Japan side and I visited Mount Daisen.
A place with a great environment for living a long life
Mt. Daisen protects the area from typhoons, provides people with lots of pure drinking water, and its location by the sea means excellent fish
Daisen Temple on the mountain is celebrating
it's 1300th anniversary in summer 2018.
A symbol of longevity, for sure
And, a place where one of the area's oldest residents lives...
Tomiko-San.
So, what's her secret?
Because I've been working in agriculture
I've used my body a lot in the field
That trains my body to make it stronger
Since I'm working in the field every day
It trains my body well
So basically if you work hard,
you'll be energetic for a long time
I've actually never ever been sick
You've never caught a cold in your life! Am I right?
Never caught a cold, Wow!
Oh, great!!
Well, I caught cold when I was young
But after becoming old, I haven't caught anything at all.
I wonder why? Do you think it's because of your diet?
We're careful about what we eat
Raised on a farm she's worked hard and eaten well
Way back in the beginning, there was an annual health checkup in town
and a lot of people had a high blood pressure
The Health Inspection Office told us
we need to eat soybeans
but for kids and old people, it was difficult, so we made Tofu
We started to make Tofu ourselves in 1954
and we've been making Tofu ever since
Tofu is an amazingly healthy food best made fresh and the family tradition started 65 years ago
Continues with Ryo-San who still makes Tofu in the traditional way
Tofu was probably made because of its nutritional value, a long time ago
now it's made to pursue deliciousness
In the past, it was just for nutrition
He basically continues to preserve this tradition and also because it's just more delicious to make it yourself a
A lot of the family's success is due to the environment and good habits
Tomiko-San still walks herself with the help of a chair on wheels
And she's surprisingly fast
I wanted to see what it was about Tofu. How it is made here
So Ryo-San invited me to make it with him starting at 4:30 in the morning
It all starts with the soybeans grown on a farm and the pure waters of Mt. Daisen
The beans are soaked to absorb the water washed drain
And put through a stone grinder that crushes them producing a white milk
This is the raw product that will soon become Tofu
But before doing that Ryo-San started a wood fire under the cauldron the way Tomiko-San did in the past
During the cold months, it keeps the room warm.
Although, a little smoky
The buckets of unprocessed soy milk gets poured in with "Nigari" sprinkled in to help it coagulate
It's stirred in and covered to raise the temperature to 90 degrees Celsius.
That takes a while
The sides are skimmed to prevent any burn taste to the final product
This is when Tomiko-San's great-grandson Bunkichi wakes up to help Ryosan make the Tofu
He's the heir apparent to take over the tradition
and it helps that he's curious about everything,
including making Tofu with Grandpa
When it reaches close to 90 degrees Celsius,
it's strained
all the liquids separated from the curd
And, the collected curd,
it's used later since it has a nutritional value
At this point,
we have some very delicious soy milk
It's naturally sweet and only slightly creamy a very delicate taste
It takes about 30 minutes to coagulate at which point Ryo-San transfers it to a cheese cloth in a handmade wooden press
It takes time to naturally let the water string through the holes
Tofu should be delicate
So you don't want to push it if you push hard the Tofu will become hard and rubbery the weights give balance and even pressure
When enough water is out Ryo-San extracts the Tofu inside a tub of water where it floats staying protected and in shape
He cuts them in large blocks for the customers
and his own family
to eat for today
Customers come from all around the neighborhood with their own bucket to bring some home
It's first-come, first-serve
I was here first,
so I got a cup of the freshly-made Tofu
The same recipe Tomiko-San has been making since the 1950s
When Tofu is made right,
it's very tasty,
even on its own.
It has a slight sweetness to it
And, that diet is one reason for Tomiko-San's happy and healthy life,
as she gets closer to a hundred and ten years old
Not far away is a market that sells local farmers produce
prices are cheaper than at the supermarket
And, the farmers bringing it in
are all seniors and very strong,
doing everything themselves
Your hands look super strong!
Oh, they are! Amazing!!
Also, because I'm a table tennis player at Japan National Competition
She's full of energy, just like Tomiko-San,
so the environment certainly plays a role
I wanted to get another point of view so a friend recommended I talked with Nakajima-San,
who is a Shinto priest near Mt. Daisen
He lives next to the shrine in the middle of a farm
Visitors to the shrine pray for safe pregnancies and deliveries
and a happy and healthy life.
What's Nakajima-san's secret to life?
Maybe, the simple life makes me like this
Not eating luxurious stuff but eating
such as brown rice, and farm nearby to cultivate eggplant and pumpkin which I eat daily
The area around the shrine really is a farm
and exercising.
Well, I don't do it anymore because I'm older, but I love moutains so I climbed Mr.Daisen couple of hundred times
Also, Japanese Alps, and Mont Blanc in Europe, and some mountains in Nepal
So, I believe living with nature being surrounded by it, is what makes a life good
Living peacefully and in harmony with nature is a recipe for success in Japan
But, that's certainly not the only thing.
You got to know how to stay young
and have fun, no matter how old you get
That's right.
He drives a Porsche.
He shares the car with others who have a passion for driving like he does
On a nice evening like this,
why not go for a short drive?
And, going around town in a Porsche
is just a little more fun
We could definitely feel the energy of driving a sports car
And, couldn't help, but smile
So, I guess the secret to a long life is also about having fun
Ask my Japanese neighbors
And, what's Mr. Seiichi's secret?
He just celebrated his 97th birthday,
and only recently retired from his job selling peanuts to customers
The secret?
It's his passion for life...
Karaoke.
He even has a favorite go-to song
It's "Enka" a traditional kind of Japanese ballad
He goes to a community center for the elderly three times a week and sings
There's a lot of energy to being on stage and singing to others
Karaoke is a way to release your mind and stay young
He sings at home with his family, too
Another secret is to be surrounded by loved ones and seniors often live with their families at home
With Karaoke, you can remember those good times and make new memories with neighbors from faraway lands
The seniors from today come from a different era, they grew up in the 1930s 40s 50s and 60s
They didn't have a lot of stuff, and they lived more humbly
It was my generation from the 1970s, 80s, 90s, until today
We have so many things like fast food, our diets have changed our lifestyles have changed, and this has made things
Well,
Let's just put it this way
I'm a little bit skeptical that...
Japan is gonna be able to hold on the crown for having the longest life expectancy in the world
But, if we take some of the lessons from our grandparents and incorporate it into our life today
Yeah, there's a pretty good chance that we're gonna live a lot longer and a lot happier, too
Next time,
Japan has been a leader in video gaming for decades
and those old games.
Well, they find a home somewhere
We'll check out a retro Game Center in Tokyo
and take a trip back...
to our childhood
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Matane