Japan Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare announced that the average life span in 2018 was the highest ever for both Japanese men and women.
men： 81.25 age (+0.16 age)
women：87.32 age (+0.05 age)
Japan Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare have announced the record of longevity in 2018, Hong Kong is on the No.1 top spot in the world for both men and women despite Japan’s best record.
Hong Kong became the world’s No.1 longevity for both men and women for the third consecutive year.
It has been informed that Japan, which has maintained the top spot of longevity in the past, has fallen due to the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.
The reason that Hong Kong has become the world’s No.1 longevity is because Hong Kong people『医食同源』remain in the core of their diet to use Chinese herbs in particular to form a balanced and delicious meal to prevent and fight disease. In recent years, the awareness of healthy lifestyle among Hong Kong people has increased.
The idea of longevity is a balance of lifestyle which relates to health, exercise, medical care, wealth, personality, purpose of life and heredity.
My personal view of living many years in Hong Kong, there are two kinds of longevity, both are related in one’s personality.
Pattern 1: Self-centered person. They vent their frustration to others and they do not feel being stressed.
Pattern 2: Calm person. People who always smile and people love them.
You may feel that it is an extremely different bipolar pattern but if you observe it carefully, you can see that the person described in both patterns above is actually a similar person.
The person in both patterns does not accumulate stress in himself or herself. One pushes stress out and the other doesn’t think about stress and relaxed. This may be the secret of longevity.
WHO (World Health Organization) first advocated healthy life expectancy in 2000, Japan has been promoting the healthy life expectancy in recent years. Singapore has been number one in 2018
World Health Life Expectancy 2018 announced by WHO
No.1：Singapore 76.2 age
No.2：Japan 74.8 age
It would be meaningless if only numbers and data were processed and not accompanied by content, but how should we accept the fact that Japan as a longevity country has not used its long-standing experience?
Perhaps neighboring countries are responding more accurately than Japan?
Nowadays you can travel anywhere that you like, the lifestyles between people living in the same place in their lifetime and the people living in different countries in their lifetime are very different.
People who have lived abroad for many years have adopted good local customs, unlike their home country.
Then, its it better to live in different countries than only living in their hometown in a lifetime. Is there such a survey?
Whichever way, it is important for Japan to exchange information with neighboring countries, learn from each other and move forward together.
Reference materials
https://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXMZO47950740Q9A7301CR8000/
20190730
https://womanslabo.com/news-201703060-4
20190731
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXxgWobvK5s
20190730
より良い生活をあなたに
About the Author
Mamie H. Ogata
Principal of OEUF Limited
Born in Hong Kong and educated in Tokyo. Returned to Hong Kong after eight years in Shanghai. Family’s background in medical, change her profession into Elderly Care after 20 years spent in architecture. An entrepreneur who introduces Japanese Elderly Care to Hong Kong from a different perspective. With partnerships in Japan and Taiwan.