MANILA, Philippines (The Inquirer), December 15, 2007:
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Hakone is part of the Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park, less than 100 kilometers from Tokyo. Famous for hot springs, outdoor activities, natural beauty and the view of nearby Mt. Fuji, Hakone is one of the most popular destinations among Japanese looking for a break from Tokyo. __________________________________________________________________
Hakone in Japan is quite a place.
For me it’s one of the most picturesque places I’ve visited where hot springs abound and volcanic vents spew steam which mixes with the cool December fog forming a refreshing mist. On the foreground is the world-famous Mt. Fuji, equally majestic as our Mayon Volcano. Hakone is truly a soothing balm to frayed nerves.
What registers strongly in the visitor’s mind in a visit to Hakone are images of senior citizens in their late 70s and 80s going up and down the steps to the “Boiling Valley,” so called because of numerous vents from the volcanic activity underneath. The smell of sulphur is heavy and its grayish powder lines the stream flowing from the valley.
Black eggs
The spring in the steps in these elderly Japanese is enviable as they walk briskly to a small store in the valley where the locals and visitors buy and eat the “Black Eggs of Longevity.”
The black eggs are actually ordinary hard-boiled eggs cooked from the many vents in the valley. The shell has turned black with the oxidation of sulphur, and the Japanese believe that eating at least an egg cooked from the valley increases one’s lifespan by seven years. Eating more eggs won’t improve one’s longevity. Nonetheless, the Japanese eat the black eggs whenever they’re in the vicinity of the “Boiling Valley” in Hakone.
One black egg adds seven years to your lifespan: The black-egg hypothesis is obviously a myth (although I did try one myself). Kazumi Yamaguchi, our good-natured travel coordinator, however cautions us not to tell any elderly from Hakone about our skepticism for their belief about the black eggs. “It is a well-known fact though that the Japanese practically outlive any race in the world,” Kazumi says.Life expectancy
Kazumi is actually correct. The life expectancy of Japanese men is a little more than 78 years, while Japanese women may expect to live up to age 85 on the average. Based on a World Health Organization report, the average life span for all Japanese is 81.9 years. The closest country to Japan is Hong Kong, where life expectancy is 78 years for males and 83.9 years for females.
In Japan, especially in places like Hakone, roughly one out of five people you see in the streets is an elderly. Population surveys also show that there are more than a million Japanese who are 90 years or older and many of them are still capable of doing activities of daily living such as dressing, eating and going to the toilet unassisted.
Are the Japanese blessed with good longevity genes? It doesn’t look like it’s in the genes, experts claim, since the prewar Japanese had a much shorter lifespan compared to other nationalities including the Americans and Europeans. Their longevity however steadily increased over the last 30 years.
Doing a gross survey of people walking in the street, one would easily note that there are not too many obese individuals in Japan. I think we have more obese individuals here. A healthy diet and active lifestyle appear to be part of the Japanese culture.
“There must be a sashimi and sushi connection to the Japanese longevity,” Kazumi volunteered. And their disease pattern supports this explanation.
Japanese traditional cookingAlthough the prevalence of cancer is relatively high in Japan, the incidence of heart diseases and strokes has considerably gone down over the last several decades which is most likely due to their low-fat and high fish consumption. Deep-sea fish is rich in omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids which is now well established to have a protective effect against heart attack and stroke.
Japan also has one of the efficient public health insurance systems worldwide and the improved healthcare is obviously a significant factor impacting the increased Japanese longevity.
12 habits
Aside from their healthy diet and efficient healthcare, what can we learn from the Japanese lifestyle? In a 1998 nationwide survey of Japanese octogenarians, these healthy seniors consistently practiced “12 habits.” These were:
• Eating three meals a day at regular times
• Chewing their food well
• Taking lots of fiber in their diet through vegetables and fruits
• Drinking tea frequently
• Not smoking
• Having a family doctor
• Being independent-minded
• Enjoying activities that changed their mood
• Reading newspapers
• Watching television
• Going out often; and
• Waking up and going to bed at regular times.
If we want to have many more happy returns of our birthdays well into our 80s or even 90s, we can learn from the healthy elderly Japanese way of life, minus the smoking habit.
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