ClickOkinawa.com - Ogimi Village of Longevity

Ogimi - the Village of Longevity
September 16, 2018

Incredibly active community life
The warm climate of Okinawa makes it possible to enjoy outdoor activities year round.
What is emphasized is the incredibly strong sense among the senior citizens of this village of the need to stay active for as long as they live. Even after growing old, they keep moving as much as their bodies allow, exercising and doing various kinds of work, whether out in the fields or spinning thread for the village’s traditional Bashofu cloth industry, and also taking part in community-related activities such as village events and volunteer work.

“Greatest longevity in Japan” declaration:
At 80 years old, I am still a child.
When Heaven calls at 90,
say go away and wait till I am 100.
Let us keep going strong as we get older,
and not depend too much on our children in old age.
Come to our village in your old age,
and we will provide the blessings of nature
and teach you the secrets of longevity.
We the senior citizens of Ogimi proudly declare
this the longest-lived village in Japan.
April 23rd, 1993
Ogimi Federation of Senior Citizen Clubs
In Ogimi, compared to the average Japanese diet:
(1) People eat more meats,
(2) the intake of green and yellow vegetables is three times higher,
(3) the intake of legumes, particularly soybeans, is 1.5 times higher,
and (4) the fruit intake is also higher.
Another point worthy of mention is salt intake. Okinawa is the only prefecture that has made it below the goal of 10 grams per person per day set by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, and that figure is 9 grams for Ogimi.

Sources: http://kanko.vill.ogimi.okinawa.jp
https://elisabethknowles.com/2015/08/05/ogimi-village-oh-to-get-old-in-okinawa/

"Every country has a generation gap but here (Okinawa in general) it is becoming a yawning chasm..."

Bashofu story from Kijoka, Ogimi-son, Kunigami-gun