Ikigai : the Japanese secret to a long and happy life pdfdrive com

MASTERS OF LONGEVITY

Words of wisdom from the longest-living people in the world

W_{HEN WE STARTED} working on this book, we didn’t want to just research the factors that contribute to a long and happy life; we wanted to hear from the true masters of this art.
The interviews we conducted in Okinawa merit their own chapter, but in the section that precedes it we have provided an overview of the life philosophies of a few international champions of longevity. We’re talking about supercentenarians—people who live to 110 years of age or more.
The term was coined in 1970 by Norris McWhirter, editor of The Guinness Book of World Records. Its use became more widespread in the 1990s, after it appeared in William Strauss and Neil Howe’s Generations. Today there are an estimated 300 to 450 supercentenarians in the world, although the age of only around 75 of them has been confirmed. They aren’t superheroes, but we could see them as such for having spent far more time on this planet than the average life expectancy would predict.
Given the rise in life expectancy around the world, the number of supercentenarians might also increase. A healthy and purposeful life could help us join their ranks.
L et’s take a look at what a few of them have to say.

Misao Okawa (117)

“Eat and sleep, and you’ll live a long time. You have to learn to relax.”

According to the Gerontology Research Group, until April 2015, the oldest living person in the world was Misao Okawa, who passed away in a care facility in Osaka, Japan, after living for 117 years and 27 days.
The daughter of a textile merchant, she was born in 1898, when Spain lost its colonies in Cuba and the Philippines, and the United States annexed Hawaii and launched Pepsi-Cola. Until she was 110, this woman—who lived in three different centuries—cared for herself unassisted.
When specialists asked about her self-care routine, Misao answered simply,
“Eating sushi and sleeping,” to which we should add, having a tremendous thirst for life. When they inquired about her secret for longevity, she answered with a smile, “I ask myself the same thing.”¹
Proof that Japan continues to be a factory of long life: In July of the same year Sakari Momoi passed away at 112 years and 150 days old. At the time he was the oldest man in the world, though he was younger than fifty-seven women.