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Friday 14 December 2018
#Okinawa, Japan: The place where #people have the longest #lifespan - why do they live so long?
"This," says Kazumi Kayo, "is one of the reasons we Okinawans live so
long." We're in the Makishi Public Market in Naha, Okinawa's capital,
and she's just handed me what looks like a lump of scaly wood. Smooth
and tobacco coloured, tapering to a point at both. It's katsuobushi,
dried and smoked bonito tuna. To Okinawans this is catnip, a flavour
enhancer that you add to soups, the pork dishes that are an Okinawan
specialty and just about any other main-course dish. You can buy it
pre-flaked, in which case it looks like pink, feathery wood shavings,
but diligent cooks like Kayo will shave off what they need, as you would
with parmesan.
Kazumi Kayo operates Yonner Food, an experience
into the Okinawan way of life via the medium of Ryukyuan cuisine and
culture. We've spent half an hour with her trolling through the market,
admiring tuna, parrot fish, sweet potatoes, lobster, the local version
of donuts and odd bits of pork.
SECRETS OF LONGEVITY
In the kitchen of her apartment she makes us rose tea, from hibiscus
flowers which unfurl prettily in our glasses. Then it's down to business
as we prepare pork belly in stock with soya garnished with katsuobushi,
seaweed soup and a stir fry made with goya, the bitter gourd with a
pimply skin, onion, carrot, more pork, eggs and tofu.
Okinawans are famously long lived. Once past the age of 65, men can
expect to live to about 84, for women it's close to 90. Per head of
population, there are more centenarians on Okinawa than anywhere else,
five times more than in the rest of Japan, and that's a high bar. Rates
of cancer, stroke, coronary heart disease and depression are well below
the average for advanced economies yet they don't go to gyms nor do they
jog. Instead you can see elderly Okinawans working in their vegetable
gardens, practising tai chi and riding bikes.
Food is part of the
reason. It's a low-carb diet with lots of fruit, tofu, vegetables and
seaweed. Rather than seafood, the No. 1 source of protein is pork, and
not just the fatty pork belly but also pig's trotters, roasted pork ribs
and pork ears, served thinly sliced, simmered slowly and dressed in
sake vinaigrette. But is it just down to food?
LOW CARB DIET?
"Maybe it's just happiness," according to Chris Dong, my guide, a
former US Marine who met his Japanese wife when he was stationed on
Okinawa, and stayed. "Okinawans are bonding, social animals, they spend a
lot of time with family and friends, and they're incredibly
supportive."
Okinawans' longevity is not a given. Kazumi Kayo, in
her 50s, tells me hers is the first generation of Okinawans that will
not live as long as their parents. "Traditional food was also medicine,"
she says, "and it's slow food. Now people have less time so they go for
convenience foods and that means a less healthy diet and we're seeing
more and more health problems."
Okinawa is the largest of the
Ryukyu Islands, the semi-circular archipelago of over 150 islands
stretched between southern Japan and Taiwan.
In historic times the
rulers of Okinawa owed their allegiance to the Chinese emperor, not to
the bit-players in Japan. In Shuri Castle, former seat of the supreme
ruler of Okinawa, a diorama shows a new ruler being anointed by
emissaries from China. Until given the tick by China, he was a ruler in
waiting. In the early 1600s the island was invaded by samurai sent by
Japan's powerful Satsuma clan, the beginning of a slow but steady
incorporation of the
ATTITUDE AFFECTS HEALTH
Another facet of Okinawan culture that traces its origins to China is
the noble art of karate, open hand fighting. Chinese martial arts were
first introduced around 1400 and when the Satsuma samurai banned weapons
in the wake of their invasion, Okinawan karate put on a spurt.
According to popular belief it was also this ban on weaponry that gave
birth to the even more deadly martial art of kobudo, which uses farm and
fishing implements including staves, oars and the chain-linked nunchaku
to lethal effect.
Tetsuhiro Hokama is the director of the Okinawa Prefecture Karate
Museum, found on the second floor of Hokama Sensei's dojo. It's a
fascinating collection of photos, books and weaponry as well as a chance
to peek at the classes that Hokama conducts for students who come from
all over the world. Hokama's specialty is kyusho, attacking nerve
points, which allows a small opponent to paralyse a much larger one. It
also involves a severe toughening up exercise to withstand blows, also
designed to weaponise elbows, hands, feet and knees. Just watching the
pounding that goes on in the warm-up is painful.
In Naha, the Dojo
bar is tribute to the fighting arts of Okinawa operated by British-born
James Pankiewicz, a karate aficionado. It's a favourite hangout for
expats as well as the local Okinawan martial arts community and
Pankiewicz is the man to know if you've come here to work on your
karate, or just absorb the atmosphere. The Dojo Bar is just as renowned
for its range of British draught beers, wines and awomori-based drinks,
cure-alls for any martial arts related disorders. Just don't go looking
to fight.
BENEFITS OF MARTIAL ARTS
Although its people speak Japanese, go to bathhouses and arrange
their empty footwear with geometric precision, Okinawa is not Japan.
Okinawa is more chilled, less workaholic and less self conscious than
the rest of Japan. It's where Japan takes its shirt off, a subtropical
island with palm trees and flaming bougainvillea and diving on the to-do
list. The flight in to Naha Airport takes you over a mottled sea dotted
with coral reefs. Hawaiian style shirts are popular, and it was
Okinawans living in Hawaii who introduced the splashy floral patterned
shirt to the world. While Japan was historically isolationist, Okinawa
was outward looking and multicultural.
"You should see our
whales," says the man in the tourist office. "Between January and the
end of March, humpback whales spend the winter here and you can see them
leaping from the water."
Disclaimer: The facts and opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. Picasso Creative Writing does not assume any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, completeness, suitability, or validity of any information in this article.
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