Health Issues in Okinawa

Maimi Goya, OCU

     A beautiful emerald green ocean, clear sky with big white crowds, and friendly grandmas calling you to come inside and eat. Okinawa has so much amazing things to offer you. Those features I mentioned above are just a few. It feels as if the time moves more slowly here, and you have nothing to worry about. That’s one of the biggest reasons why a lot of people fall in love with this small island. Since decades ago, Okinawan people were known to have long-term lives, and we were always on the top of the ranking of “Longevity Prefecture in Japan”. However, the national news reported that we are now out of top 5, and it’s getting worse. Why has life expectancy of Okinawa people gotten a lot shorter so suddenly? Is there a serious problem behind this? This article presents some possible solutions to this unusual situation.

     Before I discuss the possible solutions to the problem, I would like to give more accurate data of this issue. In 2017, Okinawa Times reported that in the ranking of “Average length of life per prefecture in Japan” for the year of 2015, Okinawan female ranked in the 7th place and the male ranked in the 36th. The percentage of death who is under 65 years old for both male and female is the worst out of whole Japan, and the biggest cause of death for male is colorectal cancer and uterus cancer for female. They said that heavy drinking habits, high-calorie foods, and a lack of exercise are considered to be the main reasons for this result. 

     Now, I would like to offer my opinion on this issue. First, Okinawa is a tropical island. Therefore, it’s very humid most of the time of the year here. To keep your body active, you need to eat and store some energy. The same as the Philippines, Taiwan and other pacific islands, food with strong, sweet and sour taste is the best answer to that problem so that you can still eat in this weather without losing your appetite. However, eating strong sweet and sour foods to keep you energetic has a negative side also. Those food tend to have high calories and cholesterol. Adding to that, as the result of advancement of transportation, American and other foreign dishes, also known to have high calories, were adopted by our culture together with the people. 

     Because of this super humid and hot weather, wherever we go, most Okinawans choose to drive cars, ride buses, or take taxis instead of walking. Therefore, the calories and cholesterol we take in are not burnt, and they pile up in our body. 

     Some people also like to drink and smoke. The high calorie food, not enough exercise, and drinking and smoking habit we have nowadays are the result for the mystery. To turn this bad situation back into the healthy happy lives we used to have, I would like to recommend each one of us to start taking better care of ourselves. We could start by eating something with less calories, do a little bit more of walking, or just take annual health checkup and ask for doctors’ advices. The most important thig is, to think more carefully about your own health and make action about it little by little.