# @danbuettner on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DdWkSCcETvh
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/70467188-danbuettner-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/415ec12904.jpg
- **Posted:** 2026-09-16T15:05:27.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Dan Buettner (@danbuettner) — https://gondola.cc/danbuettner

## Caption

This week Japan announced a milestone no country has ever reached: more than 100,000 people aged 100 or older : 107,677, to be exact. When the count began in 1963, there were just 153.

I’ve spent two decades studying places exactly like this. Okinawa, in southern Japan, is one of the original blue zones, the rare corners of the world where reaching 100 isn’t a fluke. And when you sit at their tables, as I have, the reasons the experts cite ring true. It’s never one magic pill. It’s a way of life.

A plate built on vegetables, tofu, and sweet potatoes, with far less saturated fat than ours. Bodies that keep moving all day; walking, gardening, tending to the house, instead of sitting for hours. A reason to wake up in the morning (the Okinawans call it ikigai). And a tight circle of lifelong friends, the moai, who make sure no one grows old alone.

The takeaway isn’t to envy Japan. It’s that most of us could add years, good ones, by borrowing these habits. Eat mostly plants. Move naturally. Know your ikigai. Stay close to the people you love.

Read the full story on BBC News —
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cmzezj5e18xxo

#bluezones #okinawa #japan #centenarians #longevity

## Stats

- **Views:** 0
- **Likes:** 6,070
- **Shares:** 0
- **Comments:** 45

## Tags

centenarians, bluezones, okinawa, longevity, japan

---
Copyright (c) Gondola