Home > Highlighting JAPAN > Highlighting JAPAN December 2015
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With over fifty thousand of its citizens over a century old, Japan's life expectancy ranks high in the world. While Japanese cuisine is generally nutritious, how much do other factors such as location and lifestyle influence longevity? To find out, we spoke with Dr. Yukio Yamori, a global preventative nutritionist and longevity expert who is the director of the Institute for World Health Development at Mukogawa Women's University.
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Promoting a healthy lifestyle to the area's population, the Kaminoyama Onsen Kurort project is a wellness and rest spot in Yamagata Prefecture that focuses on medical science-based healthy outdoor walks and invigorating visitors through local culinary and hot spring resources.
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Nagano Prefecture once had Japan's worst death rate from stroke and similar illnesses, with many residents consuming high daily levels of salt. Roughly twenty years ago, however, the prefecture formerly known as Shinshu decided to improve the local lifestyle, and is now known as the country's healthiest and longest-lived prefecture. Its new Shinshu ACE Project aims to go further, uniting Nagano's residents in a drive to become the healthiest and longest-lived region in the entire world.
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In a country with an aging population and an acute need for daycare, merging eldercare and childcare into a single facility-with the two generations interacting with and learning from each other-may be the most sociable solution of all.
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LiryMusica's "music facilitation" program offers interactive musical interludes at nursing homes. By sharing the joy of music with seniors, LiryMusica engages them in an entertaining pursuit that brightens both their days and their minds.
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PALRO, a humanoid robot being used at eldercare facilities in Japan, helps prevent dementia, assists in therapy and even lightens the workloads of nursing staff. Just how much of the burden of creating a healthy, long-lived society can companion robots like it carry on their shoulders?
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Jun Takahashi, the world's oldest active commercial pilot at ninety-three entered the Guinness World Records book in 2014 for being the oldest active commercial pilot alive. He's been a pilot for seventy years, and lives a relaxed, happy life under one simple philosophy - always maintain reserves of both mental and physical energy.
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SBE80! of Fukui Prefecture's Sabae City is an idol group who's average age is over eighty-they tour around the country performing choreographed versions of aerobic exercises. Still supple, energetic and full of life, they are inspiring other seniors around the country to get up and move.
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Professor Satoshi Ōmura, a joint recipient of the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, has discovered organic compounds produced by microorganisms found in the soil that are being used to free hundreds of millions of people from the ravages of infectious diseases.
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Hailing from the nation of Mali, Oussouby Sacko came to Japan to expand the range of his research following a study abroad program in China. His mission is to explore the intersection between culture and the spaces people create, as well as to bring his country and Japan closer together.
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Momo Hosokawa, a licensed International Nutrition Supplement advisor and expert on preventive medicine, is on a mission to promote and explore the state of women's health in Japan. Her primary target? Underweight women.
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As soon as the bite of autumn chill hits the air, Japanese people know that something else is sure to follow: the steamy, fragrant, popular cooked dish called oden, a simmering hot broth stocked with a variety of mouthwatering morsels all vying for attention.
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© 2009 Cabinet Office, Government of Japan