Why Do So Many Japanese Live to 100+ Years Old?

Why do Japanese people live so long? We explore this question in this video, and also, what can you learn from them? Perhaps a deeper question is, do you want to live that long? The number of centenarians in Japan has reached a record high of 92,139. Women make up 88.5% of this total. Andrew, that is a bunch of people in Japan that are living way beyond 100 years old. Yeah, I mean, I thought you were talking about centurions at first, the half-human, half-horse. But anyways, guys, actually, so of the top 15 countries as far as life expectancy, Japan ranks number three and is by far the largest country as far as population-wise at 125 million. The other large, semi-large countries compared are Spain, South Korea, and Italy. But really, as far as big countries, Japan's life expectancy is killing it. So we got to talk about why. And of course, I think a lot of people out there, they kind of have general ideas on why Japanese people's lifestyle is different. But let's go into some specific reasons that we researched and found out. Yeah, maybe you guys can take something away from it. Make sure you like, subscribe, turn on your notifications. Let's get the likes up. But real quick, Andrew, we got to talk about something else that's hopefully going to live for a long time, also from the East. Oh, smala sauce, guys, our very own chili oil condiment. You can pre-order it now at smalasauce.com. We're very proud of it. And it's made with real truffle. It's got real Sichuan peppercorns. So it's numbing. It's delicious. Check it out. From Sichuan to Sicily. Andrew, as is with anything that like people kind of know about, but they don't really look into, there is a ton of websites or threads on the internet talking about like, dude, why are Japanese people so fit? You never see fat people in Japan. Why do they live so long? I always see like an 85 or 95 year old guy at the sushi spot cutting my sushi. Like, how are they still like up and running? And listen, I think it's easy for a lot of people to just be like, oh, it's genetics. Oh, look at the body types. They're all skinny. It's like, dude, if you think about the actual lifestyle and actually some of the philosophy, it's quite different than the West. So while genetics may play a part, really, it's a lot of the diet and lifestyle and belief. And Andrew, it's really the women. The women live dramatically longer. The men, they still do live longer than all the other G7 countries. Right, right, right. But it's not by as big of a margin. I believe the women is like five to eight years. Yeah. And the men, it's like, I want to say three to four years. Yeah. Well, I would say the men probably drink more alcohol too. I don't know statistically speaking. But guys, let's get into the reasons. David, do you, what are your initial reasons that stood out to you while you were doing research? Well, I think the truth is, Andrew, there's a lot of diet things. So your diet leads to less diseases, less obesity. There's less GI things, gastrointestinal, heart disease, cancers. They eat a lot of beans, miso, tofu, mushrooms, way more plants, way less sugar, way less fast food. Andrew, when it comes to exercise, here's the thing, Andrew, they have less hardcore exercise culture in Japan than in the West. However, they have a lot more NEAT, which is non-intentional exercise. Right. Way more like walking. Yeah. Your NEAT is your non-exercise activity thermogenesis, which basically is referring to kind of the calories that you burn throughout the day. And a lot of the reason why is because they walk a lot. Yeah. They're up walking around. They sit on the floor. Some of them sleep on the floor. They bow a lot. They go on a lot of nature walks and a lot of bike rides. Andrew, if you guys have ever been to Japan, incredibly beautiful nature there. It almost looks like a dreamland, to be honest. They have a lot of community, family, and love. They do a lot of teamwork exercises. Sometimes, Andrew, they do team stretching as a team before work. Right. I mean, have you ever seen that in America? I think that's American companies need to start doing that, bro, because you sit in the chair. That means your hip flexors are all tight. Everything's tight. You're just sitting there just rotting away. You got to get up and stretch. Families tend to really stay together, especially once you get out into the suburbs and the rural area. Old people, Andrew, are expected to contribute and work until they literally physically cannot. So that sounds hard on the old people, right? But in return, those old people are also very venerated and respected. So it's like a give and take, a give and take. They have less access to hardcore drugs or even regular drugs. Right. You can get in trouble for importing just weed, like in really big trouble. Exactly. They have less stress from societal crime or societal tension, although on the flip side, they probably get even more stress from work. Yeah. I mean, let's be honest. There's also is a generally high suicide rate in Japan. That's also a fact that everybody knows. But overall, I mean, I guess the people who decide to live longer do live pretty long. Yeah. And also it does vary. I looked at the regions in Japan, like Okinawa is going to have an even higher life expectancy than Tokyo. If you look at some photos of Okinawa and the way they live, it's very island style and nature style. It's even variable within Japan, right? And then lastly, Andrew, it could just be genetic. Some people were saying that the smaller, more muscly, close to the ground nature, all Asians, of course, generally shorter, I guess, than Western people. They have less bone density issues. Interesting. That's what I read, man. You know, it kind of reminds me of this family guy sketch when they were designing Asians as the Toyota of humans. By the way, this sketch is kind of racist, but I'm just saying it would go along with this archetype, I guess. It is kind of funny. There's this one word, David, that's really interesting called Ikigai, and it actually loosely translates to the happiness of always being busy. And there's a lot of people who have written books about this who are not even Japanese, right? Because they've delved into it to like, wow, Japanese live so long. They have this passion to live longer and work longer. And here are the 10 rules of an author that wrote a book about Ikigai. And it's to stay active, don't retire. Yeah, it is very common. I remember even in San Gabriel, this guy was running this sushi spot where he was cutting sashimi. He might've been like 90 years old. Yeah, he was, I would say, kind of slow at cutting it. But the fact that he was still working and he could get up in the morning and get to work, that was impressive. Yeah, Yama Sushi, that was his spot. Yeah, and they also say take it slow. Okay, don't fill your stomach too much. This is very interesting because even growing up, David, our mom had spent some time in Japan throughout her life. And she would always remind us, hey, don't eat more than 80%, eat at 80%. This is actually a rule in Japan where you do not fill up your stomach more than 80%. That's all you need. I think oftentimes the buffet culture in America or the big plate culture, you wanna eat more and more and stuff yourself. But no, it's not necessarily good. You're not gonna get me to eat them little pieces of fish, man. Surround yourself with good friends. Get in shape for your next birthday. That's kind of a philosophy in Japan too. Smile, they actually like to smile. If you see any of the videos of the old Japanese people, they're like smiling. They kind of have a glee for life. They do, they do. They reconnect with nature. Obviously, Japan being an island, actually there's quite a lot of nature around, especially outside of the cities. Give thanks, show gratitude, live in the moment, and just discover what your passion is that drives you every day so that you can get up in the morning. Because it is true, the more reason and mission you have in your life, the more likely you are to live long. Just like mentally, right? Your heart keeps pumping. Your blood keeps pumping. Your mind tells you to wake up. You're excited to wake up. So yeah. Yeah, so I mean, we just generally covered everything. I'm sure other people are gonna say, oh, the distribution was this way. The distribution was that way. But I think that in general, you can't deny that those are the pie slices at play here. Of course, if I'm an exercise guy, I'm gonna emphasize that portion. If I'm a diet guy, I'm gonna think it's more about nutrition. If you think about all these reasons that we listed, and there's even more here that more are applying to the food and diet. But I'm just saying, think of all the reasons we listed so far, which ones do you think you can apply? And which one is the average American not applying? You know what I'm saying? And I think that a lot of people, we're thinking they're eating like tonkotsu ramen and drinking lamune and like doing a green tea Kit Kats every day. That's not true. And even if they do that stuff, it's like crazy portion control. This is actually what they eat at home. It's like mushrooms on rice with a small piece of roasted fish. All right, just as far as diet, if everything else is too existential for you, right? Philosophically, listen, high vegetable intake. They do eat a lot of high vegetable, a lot of fermented vegetables. And fresh, yeah. Seaweed is also healthy. Different styles of cooking, not just frying and pan frying and stir frying. They also steam a lot. The tea culture, tea helps break down a lot of fat. It also has antibacterial properties. We know this. Fresh food, especially outside of the city, you have a lot of access to fresh food. Smaller plates and smaller portions. You know this, guys. The smaller the portions are and the more bites you have to take psychologically, you'll probably fill up faster, right? Yeah, I mean, it's just a way lower caloric intake. Exactly, more body activity, commuting to the train, walking around. And actually, Japanese healthcare system is pretty good. I read that a lot of older Japanese people, they go to the doctor like 10 to 12 times a year. So they get a lot of checkups. And obviously, the more you get checked up, the more likely you are to find a disease. Yeah, I got some interesting questions, Andrew. Do people even want to live to 100 anymore? Like I feel like maybe 10, 20, 30, 40 years ago, that was more valid. But nowadays, I feel like people want to live a high dopamine, high-fueled lifestyle. And Drake with YOLO, I'm here for a good time, not a long time. I remember I heard the first time an Asian say that, I was like, man, that's crazy. You're being so un-Asian right now. But by the same token, I saw where they were coming from because I'm part of mainstream culture too. Yeah, yeah, I think that in our generation, there's kind of this idea that when you're old, you can't live life and you can't be happy about life. And what are you going to do when you're old? You're not working. You're just driving slow. People are going to be yelling at you. Are people even going to respect you when you're old? Obviously in Japan, if you know you're going to be respected by all young people when you're old, David, isn't that going to give you incentive to live longer? Dude, they have a whole, I don't even want to say this, but I'm just going to say it. They have like a whole like a category of like J-A-V that's catered to like, you know what I mean? Giving old people props. Yeah, shout out to the old men and women, I guess. No, no, I mean, that's a funny example of like- No, but it's different. They have a Confucian culture that is more venerating elder people, right? Yeah. It's crazy, Andrew. If you're a centenarian in Japan, you've seen Imperial Japan to Hello Kitty to Attack on Titan and Demon Slayer now. You've seen the whole arc. No, yeah, it's crazy. Yeah, like we said, guys, yeah, let's just get into the comment section real quick. Somebody said, my grandma in Hiroshima will be 104 next year. That's crazy, Andrew. If she stayed in Hiroshima this whole time, that means she survived a nuclear bomb being dropped on it. That's crazy. Shout out to her. Somebody said maybe their diet of raw seafood helps. You know what's interesting, Andrew? So many people debate raw seafood, right? Because some people are like, oh, you're intaking whatever the fish is intaking and the water is not clean in the world. But dude, this is the weird thing. This is funny because sushi comes from Japan, but everybody thinks that everybody's eating sushi all the time. Right. They're not eating raw fish every single meal. I feel like they eat more like just grilled fillet of white fish. Yeah, they're still cooking a lot of food, guys. Although sushi is the most popular food from Japan, that's not what every person is eating every morning and every meal. Yeah, no. What is that chain in Japan with the blue logo? I mean, in New York with the blue logo from Japan. Like we always get the grilled Saba there. There's always like, I know there's a restaurant in New York where the meals are way more similar to homestyle meals in Japan than like anything that we think go-go curry and stuff like that. Dude, do you think these centurions, these hundred-year-old people are eating omakase every night? No. No, no, no, they're not. To be honest, they're eating this. Pop up this photo. See these mushrooms on rice with this fish fillet? No, they're not. With the miso soup. That's what they're having. Somebody said they really stay connected within their community. Social well-being is huge. Somebody said Okinawans are statistically a greater part of that number. Like I said, Andrew, even within Tokyo, there might be a variance, right? Like people in Okinawa, they might live even extra nature lifestyles opposed to somewhere else, right? Just like in America, Andrew, somebody living in Seattle might live a much more nature-filled lifestyle than somebody in Philadelphia. Yeah, yeah, for sure. Somebody said, I agree with the take that it's a diet. Everything in Japan is small portions. You can buy a single wrap KitKat. You cannot get four gigantic KitKat bars in one package in Japan. How much of it is just portion control, man? Somebody said, obviously, they don't have the levels of public violence that we have in the US. They do not need to worry about being murdered on a daily basis. But then someone said, yeah, if they don't need to, then why are their suicide rates so high? Yeah, I mean, I think the suicide rate thing is, obviously, there's a bunch of reasons why people commit suicide. Actually, a lot of old people in Japan do commit suicide as well. But I think that if you don't commit suicide, then you're a person who wants to live long. It is true that, obviously, it's such a safe place. So I think old people can walk around a lot. Obviously, we've seen old people walk around the streets in America. And depending on the city, it's actually not as safe as you think. That situation is way different. Yeah, that's very interesting. Yeah, that's a very America issue. Somebody said that this is actually kind of a conspiracy because a lot of people in Japan were not declaring their dead relatives to collect pension checks. So some people were saying this centenarian number is inflated. All right, whatever the number is, I don't care if the numbers are fudged a little bit. You just know that people live longer, David. To wrap this up, what are some rules that you researched that you're like, oh, I think that more people in America should adopt that realistically? Okay, realistically, people here ain't living like over there. Because people here would rather live like Andrew, the Dodge Charger lifestyle or the Hellcat lifestyle. Then over there, they want to live like the Toyota Prius lifestyle, right? So already there, I guess for me, one thing I'm like, I got to think about it because I know people don't want to live the same. Well, I'm just saying the things that I think realistically, people could pick up. Here are things that I could pick up. Eat until you're 80% full. I think that makes sense. Just don't stuff yourself. What's the point of stuffing yourself? Just smiling and gratitude. I feel like those are literally easy things that you can change. I mean, I think that the whole like changing the culture around you is different, right? Like no one picks their family. No one picks their family environment. Nobody even actually picks the community they're born in. Yeah, nobody picks their community that they're born into. Nobody picks their economic class that they're born into. So I understand some people have to eat more fast food growing up. So that's why I'm not going to say, oh, don't eat fast food because I still eat fast food. But I also don't stuff myself full of fast food anymore. I'm actually not doing that as much. I feel better. I feel like I've lengthened my life. But you know what? I still enjoy myself. I think that it's really important to study other places that live dramatically different from America. And not only study it. I mean, you know, I'm not saying that everybody's got to be able to go to Japan and live amongst the people in their life. That'll be probably available to a very, very, very small fraction of the American population or global population. But definitely look it up on YouTube. You can like go through Okinawa walkthrough. You can just watch those 4K walkthroughs of Okinawa, Andrew. That's three hours long. You'll see how different their life is. There might be somebody walking outside with a tortoise. Yeah, and I'm not saying people that America should become like Japan. And that that is even possible. But I guess if you could pick up a few of these things for your lifestyle, which makes sense, that are relatively easy to do, easy habits to pick up, then do it. Oh, I thought of it. I think the one that I would like to pick up that I'm not saying I'm on their level is cleanliness. They are Japanese people are clean. Well, how dirty are you that you think it's threatening your life? No, I'm just I just don't think like if I'm like a 7 out of 10, I think they're a 10 out of 10. Oh, OK. So I like to get the 10 out of 10. Stay cleaner, eat cleaner. Eat more vegetables, only eat until you're 80%. By the way, I know that they do smoke a lot of like regular cigarettes in Japan, too. So it's not like they drink a lot of, you know, sake, too. So who knows if they didn't do those things? Maybe it'd be that their lead would be even bigger. That's true. All right, everybody, let us know in the comments down below which of the philosophies of Japan you would like to adopt to be healthier, live a happier life, because I feel like none of this said don't enjoy life. None of this said don't drink alcohol. None of it said don't eat fried food sometimes. It's just, dude, you know what it is, man? I realize, though, it's probably easier over there because everybody else is eating fish, rice and mushrooms and vegetables for dinner. Over here, everybody's doing something else. You're going to feel like you want to fit in with that. Yeah. Let us know what you guys think in the comments section below. Keep it civil. Some food for thought. Until next time, I'm going to hop out. Boys, we out. Peace.