Exploring the Island Where People Don't Die (Okinawa)

the island of Okinawa Japan is known to have the longest life expectancy in the world what that means is that it's common for people to live well past 100 years old I came here to find out why okinawans are able to live such long and healthy lives and what I discovered will leave you stunned [Music] it's 6 30 a.m this is a morning exercise for elderly people foreign how do you feel after doing the morning exercise wonderful we can go in thank you hi hi she's like everybody's favorite grandmother where you come in her house she gives you tea and she gives you food and she makes you feel comfortable we've just entered the amazing Okinawan kitchen we have all these little bowls and cabinets here so cool to be in this kitchen right now we are about to Feast look at this food she's been preparing it in the kitchen homemade with a Perfect Touch look how many little dishes there are do you enjoy life in your late 80s like why are the people here even in the inside of a house oh they're always moving around inside of the house you're not lazy gives them a good exercise this is miso um Japanese food is the best of the best and it's gonna be a great meal itadakimasu in the U.S it's very rare that somebody lives to 90. for you is it is it normal like most of your friends are still healthy do you actually know people that are over a hundred what is the key to living a long happy life many things with people around her Okinawa is a chain of Tropical Islands about 400 miles Southwest of Mainland Japan I'm actually closer to Manila than I am to Tokyo but this is a land that's completely different than the Japan you know of something just feels different here there are no big cities and busy crosswalks no neon signs no cherry blossoms or huge green forests or massive Buddhist temples instead pristine white sanded beaches Hot Springs turquoise water and beautiful coconut trees the local dialect here is nowhere near that of Mainland Japan in short Okinawa is both a cultural phenomenon and a tropical Wonderland with his many beautiful sights and laid-back Vibes as the Philippines this is about as tropical as a beach can get look at the sand color but you might know about Okinawa for other reasons than Beauty it was the site of the largest and deadliest campaign in the Pacific during World War II mainly between Japan and the USA sadly more than a hundred thousand casualties were reported and it was a major turning point in the war leading to the atomic bombs of Hiroshima and Nagasaki but that was almost 80 years ago and even though there are reminders of the war around the island as I'm walking around Okinawa I can't help but notice the extreme American presence here the truth is that many generations have past and life carries on so what's it like to live here I mean you're living like in nature like so close to nature which is the best part of it so like we wake up in the morning in the Summers and when it's nice we come down and we swim and then we go help out at the farm and then cook and do whatever it sounds like the most ideal lifestyle in the world yeah the main island is called Okinawa Island which is where the airport and the capital city called naha are located it's also where more than 90 percent of okinawa's 1.5 million residents are living but somehow it's so quiet and still my reason for coming here is very specific Okinawa is widely considered as the healthiest place on Earth and I want to discover why everywhere I go here in Okinawa I see plenty of elderly people just walking around the streets doing Tai Chi at the park riding bikes or playing this croquet like game called gate ball and it makes me think maybe getting old isn't so bad after all a centenarian is a person who has lived to be a hundred years old or longer and Okinawa literally has hundreds of them I was lucky enough to meet one centenarian who is so lovely and sweet when I showed up at her house she was just chilling at home alone and doing chores all by herself at a hundred years old I heard that you just turned 100 congratulations wow congratulations congratulations how does it feel to be a hundred foreign how do you stay busy in your day-to-day life so she's always just staying busy around the house he's training a bathroom so he she puts that well that like that wow that's amazing do you receive any help from your your kids or anybody in the community I mean for getting dressed or bathing or you do everything by yourself you see that's every single order by herself wow everything all by herself oh that's incredible you you make me look forward to getting older as you and I both know a healthy life starts and ends with Cuisine I was taken around Okinawa by my local friends Mari and Sena and we couldn't stop eating because the food is that fresh and that tasty this is pork from the island about 80 of the vegetables are from Okinawa so when you see a plate like this it begins to make sense why Okinawa was the healthiest place in the world oh my God before I tell you more about what okinawans eat there's a valuable lesson in how they eat remember this term Hara hachibu translation stop eating when you are 80 full why because it takes 20 minutes for your stomach to send signals to the brain that it is full it's important not to spend those 20 minutes shoving food down your throat just simply push the plate away the simple words not overeating so they just like they don't binge eat like in the U.S they would just keep eating they'll finish like what's on their plate but you don't like put way too much on yeah it's like portion control yeah yeah Okinawa is filled with an abundance of fresh fruits vegetables and seaweed in fact they produce more seaweed than any other place in Japan the main island is covered in farms and plantations for fresh vegetables as you can see there's an abundance of plants and vegetation here in Okinawa which is partly why the cuisine is so healthy this is a sugar cane plantation that's pretty awesome in summer season my branded and sweet potato and mustard and uh nice sponge cucumber or okinan people like this vegetable this Okinawan vegetable is very healthy and contain many minerals in Okinawa is better than the mainland or vegetables yes yes because Okinawa soil is many contain Berry minerals why do you have a badminton record yes we using the thoughts such as spongy cucumber fruits so when you feel it yes even the beverages in Okinawa are healthy instead of water many okinawans choose tea and you can find incredible Homegrown Tea all over the island my friends took me to a little hole in the wall tea shop and I was absolutely stunned we're all from the northern part of the island how did you become such a tea enthusiast all these medicinal herbs that grow like in the wilderness they're very very strong and like they'll live like no matter what so by drinking them we get that power like from nature as well I love it yeah whoa they all smell different yeah yeah I don't know yet all right we are about to try this amazing looking tea cheers you know I've had a lot of cups of teas in my life and nothing has tasted like this like the combination that is so good it so this is that brown sugar that I saw on the market and she served it she said eat it within here it looks like little rock candy pure sugar pure sugar if you drink this every day you'll definitely live that's a hundred oh yeah mostly for like alcoholic drinks yeah but she's like elderly right so you have to like respect so you must use two hands when you take or receive something not only is there tea healthy but it's also their local liquor here it's not sake it's called awamuri hey why is it so healthy vinegar vinegar whoa she's never tried anything like that all right so what is this one this one's 30 30 and it's made out of rice that was produced in Okinawa cool cheers that is more like yeah like the next one is what 90 no 51. oh it says it right here so she's making us try all of these bottles in a row and each of them get stronger and stronger this one's 51 percent okay more of a taste oh more like really different flavor don't you want to try three okay I'll try if you drink it with me hey buddy hey buddy happy time my happy time yes yes [Music] we got the big one whoa that one hits it burns so what are the ingredients inside of the of that bottle the rice and then the type of bacteria okay got it there's no sugar in these drinks it breaks down the sugars in the rice and that's where the sweetness comes from so you can make it without like any sugar so it has like zero sugar what we've learned is that the local liquor here is so healthy when they drink it there's no sugar in it it's like medicinal so people can get drunk without gaining weight food and beverage is only one part of the equation for why okinawans live longer than anyone else the second part is staying active karate is one of the most well-known martial arts in the world and it was created in Okinawa have you ever seen that movie Karate Kid the entire movie is based in Okinawa wax on right hand wax off left hand this form of unarmed combat became popular in the 1400s and finally made its way to Mainland Japan in the early 1900s when kids at school started practicing It karate got so popular worldwide that it debuted as an Olympic sport in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics [Music] came back to my days in Korea I tried to get a Black Mountain Taekwondo but that's all feet and [Music] thank you that's so cool that he's got a zoom class going there's people in Tokyo taking the class right now cut these uh selfie defense how not to fight how not to lose how to teach about fighting how many years have you been doing um since he was 50 years old no he's 72 years old wow how does it make you feel that you're still doing it all these years every time he comes here and he is expecting I can feel something if the ordinary feeling in a everyday casual life because he is looking for the axis to support aside from Karate okinawans have this thing called Moy it basically means a tight-knit community of five or more people who regularly meet up whether it's shopping or eating or doing sports it helps them maintain a social life into their old age and almost everyone does it many Studies have shown that social connection improves Health and Longevity by reducing stress [Music] but every person when they gather pays like maybe fifty dollars or like 100 and they put it into a pot and someone takes it home it like circles back and they go in order so it all comes back to you at one point so it's like a plus minus zero type of thing I think this Moy is one of the secrets to how people live so long and enjoy their life in their 80s and 90s it has to be one of the factors why because I never heard of something like that I'm telling you guys that the elderly people here are very social and it's absolutely amazing do you want beer beer I buy for you two beers thank you yeah what's your name Drew hey Drew you you yo my name is [Music] dangerous what a moment this is chilling at this bar with all these old men drinking beer local beer in Okinawa Japan that's you yeah the little screen see that he's just pounding sake over here Japan is by far the most interesting culture in the world the elderly Community here stays active by tackling Choice together and the kinds of sports that they play do not stop at karate it's so cute how all the old people come here and they all just start working immediately they're sweeping they're cleaning they're brushing unbelievable it's so special to witness this and they're all look so happy this game is basically like croquet meets a putting contest and it's fun oh good shot [Music] here we go who's the winner she's the winner good job after spending three Amazing Days in Okinawa I can finally understand why this island is the home of the world's oldest people they live so happy healthy and carefree in this beautiful land with rich soil I feel very happy traveling here and this story was just so enriching to make in a world where we're all so scared to get old and die it's exactly the opposite in Okinawa old age is celebrated and actually gives me hope for the future thanks for watching I really enjoyed making this story and I'll see you in the next video peace hey guys just want to hop on here real quick and say thank you for watching this story in Okinawa it was an absolute blast to film it and I know it's a little different than my normal like energetic upbeat Adventures travel stories but I think this one is really impactful and I hope you enjoyed and secondly I just want to say that my South Sudan cow tribe video is available to watch only on my website on a pay what you want model the reason I did this is because I I uploaded it to my YouTube channel a few weeks ago and YouTube flagged it and demonetized it for various parts of the video such as the year and shower and I think it's absolutely crazy that I'm not able to get this video seen out to the world because I spend so much time and energy and money on making this story it's my biggest video of all time and if you want to support my career as an independent filmmaker and support the Creator economy and help out so I can continue telling these epic stories around the world then I'd appreciate if you could donate something as small as five or ten dollars and you can watch the video and I promise this is like Netflix quality it is amazing my team and I spent over a month full-time editing this thing it is absolutely epic I know you guys are gonna love it so click that link below in the description to watch it the first 300 donors are going to be invited to an exclusive Zoom q a call where I'm going to take you behind the scenes of the video and also answer any of your travel questions and the top three donors are going to get a 15-minute private Zoom call with me and you can ask me anything you want so thank you guys so much for your support and whether you choose to pay for that video or not thank you for being here and watching my stories I feel like they're getting better and better and your comments are definitely heard and I really appreciate it and respect I'm going all in on this channel and my second channel for telling the most epic stories around the world and I'm really grateful for you guys so have a great day and I will see you next week [Music]

Channel: Drew Binsky

Views: 2,600,024

Keywords: drew binsky, drew binsky vlog, drew binsky travel, travel, Okinawa, healthy life, long living, Okinawa Japan, Japan, Japan travel, okinawa island, okinawa people, japanese food, people of Okinawa, life expectancy, Okinawa culture, Okinawa history, healthiest place, Japanese longevity, Okinawans longevity, Okinawa diet, okinawa eating habits, fresh food, awamori, Okinawa life, Japanese culture, Japanese people, oldest people, old age, drew binsky japan, japan drew binsky

Id: UU-iWa0Hroc

Length: 18min 51sec (1131 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 15 2023