Долгожители Японии

Ogimi, Okinawa, Japan Sumiko Taira, 94 years old, weeding in her peanut cultivation in the fishing village Ogimi on the Japanese island Okinawa. As usual, Sumiko Taira got up at six o'clock, ate a light breakfast and then rode her bike down to the village school where she works as a school police officer. The rest of the day, she has been busy working on her 15 cultivated patches lying scattered along a hillside. The Japanese island Okinawa is known as a blue zone where people are exceptionally old. In a thousand years, Okinawa has been known among Chinese sailors as 'The immortals island' and still you can find many of the world's oldest people on the island. The Japanese have the highest life expectancy in the world - 83.91 years - and oldest of them all are people from the island. Above all, women get really old with 86.88 years in life expectancy which is the highest in the world and they also stay healthy the longest in the world. It has made Okinawa appointed an official UN region for long- lived people and nowhere in this region are people more long-lived than in the village Ogimi. At the last census, 156 of the village's 3,386 residents were 90 years or older and 13 had turned 100 years old. These numbers has given Ogimi the epithet 'The Ancient village'. Researcher Makoto Suzuki who has studied aging on the island since 1975 and mad e thwe conclusion that four factors are essential for the inhabitants long and healthy lives: Ґ The very special eating habits on the island; Ґ people's active and mobile lifestyle; Ґ religion and philosophy of life which relieves stress, and; Ґ social inclusion and mutual support in the community. Foto: Malin Hoelstad / SvD / SCANPIX / Kod: 30212