Background
Successful aging, or the ability to maintain life satisfaction through a high level of social and physical functioning, is closely related to how we deal with stress. (Wan, Odell, & Lewis, 1981; Charles & Carstenson, 2010). As people age, they must deal with the loss of loved ones, socio-economic status, and youth. Many elderly, especially in the western culture, where youth, vitality and economic productivity are highly valued, subsequently lose their sense of life purpose. The stress resulting from such an existential crisis leads to a host mental health issues and or physical diseases that exacerbate suffering into old age, and shorten the lifespan. Wong (1982) showed that successful aging is characterized by the continued ability to identify personal meaning in life, particularly in the face of adversity.
Four important personal meaning-enhancing strategies were identified in Wong’s (1982) paper on successful agers. 1) Reminiscence: Remembering previous instances of solving life problems and drawing on those lessons to solve problems of the present. 2) Commitment: Devotion to significant relationships, values, traditions, helping others and seeking pleasure. 3) Optimism: Believing that there are still goals to be accomplished and that they can be achieved. 4) Religiosity and spiritual well-being: The belief that life serves an ultimate purpose; it becomes more important as we age because one must prepare to meet a deity. Thus, successful agers continuously look for reasons for why life is worthwhile, allowing them to internally adapt to life’s difficulties.
Successful aging is also achieved through regular physical activity and a healthy diet (Drewnowski & Evans, 2001). Resistance to age-associated diseases such as chronic inflammation, diabetes, Alzheimer’s and many types of cancer share a strong association with dietary choices. Many Mediterranean and oriental diets with low-calorie, nutritionally dense nutrition show substantially less chronic and coronary disease with age relative to Western diets, which are nutrient poor and energy dense (Wilcox, Scapagnini, & Wilcox 2014; Cordain et al., 2005). Chronic disease is made much worse by a sedentary lifestyle. Blair et al. (1989) showed that completing at least 30 minutes of exercise a day significantly decreases all-cause mortality. Activities that enhance muscular strength, endurance and flexibility improve one’s resilience in performing tasks for daily living. Indeed, cultures showing sustained activity from youth to old age have some of the highest levels of successive aging, in that their level independence and physical ability take much longer to decline.
The best examples of successful aging emerge from Okinawa Japan. Okinawa is home to the highest number of centenarians, humans aged 100 and over, in the world (Wilcox, Wilcox & Suzuki, 2005). Okinawans possess the highest life expectancy in the world in addition to the highest health-expectancy: the persistence of good health into old age. An Okinawan’s “Golden Years” are disease free relative to the western world. Furthermore, today’s Okinawan centenarians posses their remarkable health despite having lived through poverty, famine and substantial personal losses caused by The Battle of Okinawa at the end of WWII. Popular opinion would suggest their resilience is conferred by genetics alone; however, Okinawans that move elsewhere live on average 20 years less than their non-immigrating counter-parts. Only those immigrating Okinawans that maintain their homeland’s lifestyle reap successful aging. Therefore, a strong cultural influence on successful aging must exist.
I set out to Okinawa to determine what those cultural determinants of longevity were, and find out whether those factors map to the “meaning-enhancing strategies” that past aging research suggests are essential to successful aging.
I spent two months in Okinawa, learning about their history, values, and daily routines by living alongside and or interviewing various members of the community. A majority of this time was spent in various locales throughout Ogimi village, a rural area occupying northern Okinawa. After combing through 18 interviews and dozens of journal pages, I pieced together a set of themes that depict the major pillars of Okinawan culture. In the sections below I describe each of those themes in a series of observations, followed by a brief discussion on how they relate to factors affecting longevity. Themes are grouped into two broader the categories “Community” and “Habits”.
Some of you may be thinking:
“I’m not very old, why does any of this matter to me?”
I decided to learn from successful agers because they represent that best example of how to live well. Their healthy habits are not only effective for dealing with the challenges of old age. They also apply to challenges experienced throughout life. There are a number of parallels between those with poor mental health, and seniors that age poorly. Just as depressed elders are those who have lost personal meaning after suffering multiple losses (Wong 1989), I believe younger individuals suffer mentally because of a similar sense of loss, that is, a lost sense of personal meaning. Consider the university student. Students put a massive burden on themselves to perform well academically, and thrive socially – realms from which they derive self-worth. When they experience failure it can feel as if the world is collapsing, especially if they are just arriving from high schools where they were top scholars. These setbacks can cut away at their sense of personal meaning, and consequently the belief that their suffering at university is worth going through. By studying Okinawan culture not only did I learn how they retain a sense of personal meaning in the face of adversity, I learned how to do for myself, and by taking the time to coming to this website, I hope you can too.
Community
Life exists as part of a network. Cells as part of a tissues, tissues as part of organs, and organs as part of beings. At every level, each piece is critically dependent upon the other. Consider neurons, the cells that wire our brains. Neurons rely on nutrients and stimulation from their neighbors to survive. Neurons that connect to several neighbors receive regular maintenance, are expected to live a long time. Neurons that fail to connect however, deprived of nourishment, will quickly decay. Life without the support of network cannot last. It should come as no surprise then that human longevity is critically dependent upon how deeply one connects themselves to the networks of people around them.
Group Cohesion
"Like any tropical island, life can be quite hard. Although there can be good times there can be some very hard times too. People have to work together, share food, and look after each other."
While living in Ogimi, you immediately notice a level of connectedness that’s hard to find anywhere else. Everyone has a role for sustaining the village. Elder women are responsible for maintaining family tombs, leading spiritual ceremonies and gardening, elder men are responsible for farms, fishing, and community-wide events, working age men and woman bring income through their jobs, and the children are expected to help their elders with farm work afterschool. Each member of the village is automatically “assigned” their role based on their age and gender, and each role shares the purpose of making the village a success.
Because of their interdependent nature of the social system, the villagers have mechanisms for looking after one another – particularly their elderly, whom they revere. While it’s common for elder Okinawans to live independently, their neighbors ensure they never feel alone: “Each district has a special representative that you can talk with – usually another elder. They visit you, invite you outside, play games or eat with you. We’re all very close here” a local farmer, 89, told me. “At our age your family is much younger than you, and you don’t want to give them your worries. It’s nice to have someone your age to share them with.” On my evening walks, the village would chatter with conversation, but if anyone is missing from the chorus, people take notice “if someone has not been seen outside one day, they will be checked on.” Family or not, these Okinawans always have someone nearby that cares for them.
This Okinawan word for this lifestyle is “Yuimaru”, which roughly translates to “The spirit of cooperation.” Wherever need appears, the villagers act collectively to address it. If someone’s harvest is short one year, they will be provided with food, and if someone hurts themselves, they’re assisted with their work. People go out of their way to help you on a rainy day. Sumi, a 97 year old woman lives, gardens, cooks on her own every day in her traditional-style flat. While explaining the concept of Yuimaru, her neighbors told me “We invite her [Sumi] to our house when the typhoons come. Her house is very small, so we bring her here to eat and chat until the storms are over.”
Even for financial difficulties, Okinawans have a system for keeping their neighbors financially secure. “There is an old system called Moai. Everyone pays 10,000 yen (Roughly $100). Ten people gather together to make a pot of 100,000 yen. It’s a way of giving relief to each other. Anyone can use it.” What’s astonishing is that Moai is an entirely voluntary and non-regulated system. It’s a simple agreement between people - no contracts required. In fact, when I asked interviewees whether the system had ever been abused, I received crossed faces “Nobody steals, we live with what we have. If we need help, we can get it, why should we ever steal?”
I learned later that Moai is also used as a term for a group of children that go through life together. New families will group their kids into Moai’s, which become a secondary family. They meet on regular intervals for work and play. Some Moai’s are known to last over 90 years.
Whether it’s with their Moai or not, Okinawan elders interact like kids when it comes to play. They're particularly fond of a game called “Gateball” – the local rendition of Croquet. Every evening at 5:30 elders would gather to play on a pitch located at the back-end of the village. When I first heard about these meetings I imagined a “cute” gathering of elders, yet nothing was further from the truth.
They’re ruthless.
“It’s a nasty game.” One player kept telling me “You have to be really mean to everyone else to win”. I was alarmed with the amount of heckling I witnessed. It was worse than a board game. Usually a dozen elders show up to play, while others (such as myself) just come to watch the spectacle. When I asked the man I sat next to why he wasn’t playing, he told me he was too still too young to participate. He was 65. It turns out the average gateball player is 75 years old, and once upon a time, they hosted players over the age of 100. At the time I watched the oldest player was 97 years old – and she wasn’t slowing anybody down.
Group Cohesion – Reflections and Takeaways
“If you replace the "I" in illness with We, you get Wellness”
1 - Designate one commitment to directly improving someone else's life
By staying committed to those around them Okinawan elders are constantly reminded by their families, friends, and each other that their actions are appreciated. Because that constant reminder elders are far less likely to face existential crises or loneliness.
If you review happiness research, nothing works better than a charitable lifestyle. By acting as an essential piece of someone else’s life, not you only do you receive the pleasure of giving, you live with the comfort of knowing that you matter somewhere else, which is always a reason to get up in the morning.
Although long distance charity is great, try to be on the ground floor giving. It may seem selfish, but seeing the effects of your work on someone else’s life will makes a big difference. Feeding off the positive energy, smiles, and physical presence of those you help will do more than a thank-you letter could.
2 - Keep a small Moai
A stress-free life is easier to maintain with financial and emotional security, and that’s exactly what a Moai affords Okinawans.
Volumes of research have shown the benefits of staying socially integrated into old age. By sharing our internal struggles with a larger group, we unload the psychological burden from ourselves. Elders that maintain a high level of social integration over their lifespan are far less likely to develop dementia, depression as they age. Their social ties allow them to offload stress as it arises.
Mental health hotlines are built with that knowledge in mind. Having someone to talk to is a powerful outlet (There’s a reason why solitary confinement is considered the harshest form of imprisonment). When adversity strikes, don’t bottle your thoughts. Share them with close friend, family member, or even a stranger. Not only do you help yourself, but you may be helping someone else that thinks they’re struggling alone.
Be warned, however. Keep your Moai’s small. Commitment is only possible when your group is intimate. If you want people to be dedicated to you, you need to be dedicated to them, and that’s not possible when dozens of individuals occupy your “close” circle. There’s a point of diminishing returns, where the stress of having to keep in touch with so many people, and the poor quality of each of those relationship outweighs the benefits of having them. This is particularly true for younger, busier individuals. In order to retain meaning from your relationships, keep those relationships at a high standard. Else, those ties will start to fail, and your sense of personal meaning will fail along them. This is not to say you shouldn’t be social with a large group of people. Befriend everyone you meet, and treat them well, but commit yourself wholeheartedly to the few that matter most.
Take moment so asses the state of your support network. Is there someone to back you if you experience financial difficulties? Do you have someone to talk to when there’s emotional distress? Someone to call when you want to go out? A place to call for advice? If that’s not the case, consider joining a local club, sport, or community group (spiritual groups, volunteer services etc.) – anything you feel passionate about. Not only is it an opportunity to enhance your social integration, it’s a means for building future social and emotional security that can protect you from a potential bout of anxiety.
Infinite Hospitality
“If you’ve made an Okinawan friend, you’ve made a friend for life”
Being from North America, I worried about entering small Okinawan communities. The memory of WWII lives on with Okinawa’s seniors, and others are unhappy with the continued expansion of U.S. military bases on the island. They’re frequently protested. Given the tight-knit nature of small communities, and the generally negative attitude towards American culture, I wasn’t sure my “American” face would be welcome in their communities.
Fortunately, I held the lion's share of stereotypes. Location notwithstanding, the hospitality I received on my visit was more than I could have ever asked for. Although communities are tight, they’re very open. Wherever I went, locals were happy to include me in their lives – many going out of their way to do so. When I asked an interviewee about the local attitude towards visitors he said “It’s very easy for people to join the community because everyone is very friendly. Okinawan people are especially friendly. If you’ve made an Okinawan friend, you’ve made a friend for life!”
As I update my journal, you’ll see that truth to that. From Impromptu tea time, free food, hour-long drives, to invitations to community celebrations, my Okinawan hosts offered me everything I could and expected nothing in return. At first I thought it I was receiving special treatment as a foreigner, but the locals taught me that Okinawan hospitality is actually rooted in its history:
“When trading opportunities came along, they had to be skillful in order to prosper. They had to be adventurous as well, they had to leave their island and go off and search for opportunities and be very open to dealing with people from different cultures and different languages. They never were an aggressive nation. Okinawa was never going to war with any of its neighbors…I think they have evolved their society and evolved their culture to try and make the best of what they do have, which is each other, and their position as a hub between other bigger dominant cultures.”
“Navigators from Europe would not be allowed into mainland Japan, but Okinawans have always said “Welcome! Welcome!” There was always friendship from us. Okinawa exchanged many borders, so we learned to be very nice”.
When Okinawa was the primary junction for trade to Japan, hospitality was a means for economic prosperity, and it remains as a permanent string in the cultural fabric of the prefecture.
Celebrating Age
“It’s a gel that binds society together”
In western cultures youth and vitality are valued above all else. Billions of dollars are spent every year for personal maintenance – much of it because we fear the ideas evoked by old age: frailty, dementia, and irrelevance.
In collectivist societies however, one’s value accrues with age. Okinawan elders are automatically granted leadership positions in their community, and are frequented for their wisdom. Instead of evoking concern, age warrants celebration for the Okinawans.
Shinfuku Tamaki, 99, is one of Ogimi’s oldest living males. When I met with him, he told me about his 97th birthday party: “They held a parade for me” he said, “I rode through the streets on my brand new motor-cycle and waved to all my friends from Takazato”. Tamaki is considered a local celebrity. His picture is glued onto wine bottles at the local restaurant, and he’s featured in almost every publication from Ogimi village. Even before learning about the purpose of my visit, locals would go out of their way to tell me about him. They pride themselves on the advanced age and health of their seniors.
Such celebrations are not exclusive to the oldest of the old – there are standard celebrations or “kajimaya” for anyone turning 88 or 97 - and they are not uncommon.
Respect for the old doesn’t stop with the living. Okinawan spirituality is built around ancestor veneration, and it's universally practiced. As one ex-patriot Okinawan described it:
“Even those Okinawans that have become Christians, still haven’t abandoned their cultural beliefs. There’s a big distinction. For example, their veneration of their ancestors: their belief that even when their grandparents have passed away their spirits are still with the family, watching after them, and are still accessible to provide advice. That is a cultural belief that everyone I’ve met, at all ages, still believes in. I have not met an Okinawan yet, that has rejected that as hocus - not one. It’s just something that people accept. It’s a key aspect of their family ties and ties to their society. A lot of the annual calendar of events which bring families back together are tied to offering prayers up to their ancestors or communicating with their ancestors. It’s a gel that binds society together.”
The biennial ancestor veneration events are the pillars of Okinawan family life. Much of that is thanks to the design of Okinawan graveyards: “There is only one grave for every family,” one farmer explained, “The ashes of all your descendants are put into the same shrine”. As an Okinawan you are never acting alone, you are inextricably tied everyone that came before you, and everyone that will follow after.
Celebrating Age – Reflections and Takeaways
1 - Keep faith
Religiosity goes a long way for preventing anxiety. During trying times it’s an intrinsic source of significance, hope, and a means transcending the confines of reality. By holding onto a sense of continuity, Okinawans can seek comfort from the unpredictability life and the finality of death and remain optimistic about their future.
A spiritual community is also another kind of Moai - A group of people with which you can communally pray, share your problems, celebrate life, and prepare for death with. Within the influence of a group, one is more likely to have confidence in their spiritual practices, and enjoy the benefits of social integration. Even if you’re atheist, it may help to partake in communal meditation or reflection with people that share congruent views on life death (also see the section below).
2 - Desensitize the object of anxiety
Okinawan tombs can be found everywhere. They line the fields beside highways, appear in backyards, and everywhere in-between. Tombs are a constant backdrop to Okinawan life that remind people of their mortality. Instead of being grounds for sombre remembrance (like in the West) however, they’re a place of celebration. Families gather for lunches, conversation and festivities at their ancestral tombs. Regular contact with the “afterlife” takes away the ability of death to cause anxiety. Aging and passing into the realm of spirits is considered a natural part of the life course.
By ignoring the ideas that cause us fear we give them power. A phobic for example, will experience harsher anxiety to the source of their fear after longer periods without exposure to it. When psychologists train out fear, they systemically desensitize the source of fear. Patients are gradually exposed to their phobias in a greater and greater capacity until it loses its power to elicit anxiety. Likewise, Okinawans systemically desensitize the concept of death by embracing it throughout life.
Habits
A Lifelong Craft
"A good life means you need to have something to do today, tomorrow, everyday!"
A common factor across Okinawan elders is the practice of a lifelong craft. While the list ranged from martial artists, potters, teachers and farmers – the vast majority of interviewees belonged to the latter category. In one locale, seventy-three out of eighty-six homes that stood next to a garden or small farm. In the first three hours of every morning residents tend to their vegetables, and after a break during the peak hours of heat, they go back for at least another three hours. I worked on one of these farms for nine days and it’s laborious work – but oddly therapeutic (more on this in my journal). I was fortunate enough to work during a cloudy week - most days in Okinawa are well above 30 degree celsius and very, very humid. Nevertheless, farmers aged 60-100 spend over 6 hours in the field, on top of going for evening walks and playing Gateball.
The majority of vegetables consumed by Okinawans come from inside the prefecture, and originate from the villages like the one I visited. But farming doesn’t happen out of necessity alone. It’s cited a means of personal fulfillment:
I’ve been growing vegetables since I was a child. I work every morning, afternoon and evening: digging, cutting, watering at any moment.
“Before I retired from my office I would drive almost 100 km from the city to my farm in my free time… I didn’t care what I was spending to be honest – I just love this. I love to make vegetables by myself.”
I think about how to maintain the management of the farm. This is very difficult. I have to think about the future of the farm, think about how to make things better. I’m always thinking about this.
“I enjoy everything I have to do on the farm...even when I have to clean up the shed. That’s why I’m able to do dairy farming for such a long time. I do everything, so I have to love everything. Working for me means, enjoying. It’s very important to work with something you enjoy.”
The martial artists I interviewed were no different. Minoru Higa (called “Higa Kaicho” by his students) is head of the Kyudokan school of Shorin-Ryu has practiced karate for over 65 years. Today he’s 74 years old and going strong. He leads four 2-hour classes every week, and weight trains in his spare time. If he’s not training he’s being invited to dojos all over the world to lead seminars or judge at tournaments. While training with him I learned that Okinawan martial arts are not about achieving a rank or learning how to fight per se. It’s a philosophy, and way of life. You don’t stop after getting your black belt. You stop when you die. Here’s was Higa Kaicho has to day the practice of karate:
“The most important thing about karate is basic training and communication. Many young today will train extremely hard for a little while and then stop. This is not good. You must train little bit, but you must train often. Consistency is what creates a great martial artist, not brute strength. Karate is not for a rank, glory or for revenge. It is way of life: A way to protect yourself, a way to build health, and a way to bring people together. When we train, we train as a community, so that we can push each other to become better than yesterday. I think of a dojo like a melting pot, it can bring many different people to do the same thing, at the same time, in the same place. It makes people homogenous. This type of environment creates peace. Karate is about creating peace.”
Immigrants to Okinawa who originally practiced in the West had a similar story to tell. James Pankiewicz, owner of the “dojo bar” and British ex-patriate had the following to say about western vs. Okinawan martial arts philosophy:
Sometimes when I was practicing martial arts in England, I had a sense that it was all about the violence. People would glory in being strong fighters. That was all it was about. They wanted to win and they wanted to be number one. And you can follow that path. For a while it can be satisfying. But you can fall, very quickly, and you get too old for that, you can get too broken, to hurt to pursue that. And once you become a champion where do you go after that?.. I think that one that that characterizes Okinawan martial arts and dojos is the sense of it being a lifelong practice. It’s not just something for young men to do when they have the physical ability to beat each other up and take some damage. The idea of Okinawa Martial arts is that it’s part of a lifelong practice of health and well-being. Obviously, the point of martial arts is to protect yourself and stay healthy. But there’s also this idea that it protects your day to day health. It is part of your daily regime, and one of those key components that I think contributes to longevity but also good health right through to your senior years.
Regardless of their profession, Okinawans occupy themselves with their passion right through to their Golden years. I asked my interviewees when they planned on stopping work, but those plans did not exist. For those who retired from work in an office, they immediately began work on a farm “I going to keep farming for the rest of my life!” There was no concept of a work-free life. Okinawans intend to go about their business until their very last day.
[Picture about Kariyushi?]
A Lifelong Craft– Reflections and Takeaways
1 - Stay busy with what you enjoy
By keeping a craft, Okinawan elders wake up every morning with something to do. Each day is a list of objectives that move them closer to some goal, be it finishing a harvest, or progressing a student of martial arts. They’re not waiting out life, they’re actively contributing to the world around them. It gives them something to be optimistic about. A stream of activities allows your mind to stay present focused. When your mind is occupied with tasks, there isn’t much time to ruminate over the past, or worry about getting old in the future. Total retirement is dangerous, when days have no objectives we lose the ability to feel like significant members of the world. If you’re no longer working, or have too much time on your hands, start a project of interest with a group of friends and work on frequently. Furthermore, by actively using your mind and body, you retain its function. Even before old age, if you cease to exercise your brain or some part of your body, you lose your ability to use it at all. (I highly recommend you look up the “use it or lose it” concept in biology).
2 - Light, frequent exercise
The Okinawan example teaches us that to stay in shape, we don’t necessarily need hard hours at the gym. We need light, but frequent exercise. Try to find the little ways of making life more active. Walk or bike to your destinations, get into a (not-extreme) sport. By regularly making use of your body, your muscles and joints will last longer. If you’re retire, consider following the Okinawan elders and take up gardening. Biology can be ruthlessly efficient. If your body find that some part of it has become useless (via disuse), it won’t bother to maintain it. If a century old man can still touch his toes, you should too!
Resilient Minds
“I gave seven of what were supposed to be the best years of my life to war. It’s a terrible thing. I never want war to happen again. Nothing is better than peace.”
The eldest Okinawan are veterans of war. As young men and women, they had to witness WWII’s atrocities, and in its aftermath, had to deal with the loss of their homes, loved ones, and livelihoods.
“As the war got closer and closer to Okinawa younger and younger men would get called into battle. When they left from school they would leave dressed in white garments under their uniforms– the garments in which we dress the deceased. To go into war was to accept death. When the new recruits left us to join the army, we would say “See you in the shrine”. Nobody expected them to return.”
“People dug holes in the mountain and took shelter from the violence there. We ate what we could find in the hills. A lot of things tasted terrible, and probably weren’t good for us, but they would eat it to survive
“On the way back from his service, my husband saw an Okinawan woman that just had a baby. The American soldiers gave her some food so she could stay alive for a couple of days and then left her there. Then Japanese soldiers passed by her. She felt sorry for the soldiers so she gave them some brown sugar. The Japanese soldiers demanded more. She told them she had nothing else to give. They got into a fight... and then they killed her. Japanese soldiers treated Okinawans very poorly. There are a lot more stories like that one.”
I found it paradoxical that veterans of war outlived so many of those with peaceful lives despite the tragedy and famine they faced. I assumed they were better at finding intrinsic motivation, or were keen to reach specific goals after the war. But their stories made it clear nobody had time to think too far ahead into the future. They never had goals, they did what was necessary survive.
I spent most my 20’s in the war, and when I came back in my early 30’s everything was gone. We had to rebuild everything. We didn’t have “goals” to motivate us - we were motivated by a need for food and proper shelter.
When my family and I returned to my hometown, everything was destroyed. The war took my home and one of my brothers. I needed to support my parents and four other family members, so I took up work as a bus driver at Okinawa’s airbase
Resilience is built into the hearts of Okinawan elders. They watched their villages grow from wreckage into thriving communities. Every day of peace fills them with an immense sense of gratitude and accomplishment. “I’m satisfied just getting to see my pineapples everyday” said one veteran. When years of life have been spent at the edge of death, the problems you face during times of peace are put into perspective. At the end of my interviews I ask the elders if there is anything else they would like to share. The answer would always the same:
“Peace. No more war please. Just peace.”
Culture of Mild
“Ten years I’ve lived in Okinawa, and not once have I seen two people get into a fight. In Italy, two days, you’ll see people fighting on the street. I guarantee it.”
The most common words in a discussion about Okinawan life are “easy-going” and “slow”. Their elders move faster than everywhere else in the world, but they follow a relaxed pace of life. When I asked Okinawans about their life goals there were no dreams of grandeur, fame or fortune. People are content with simple lives. It’s a far cry from the stereotypes of mainland Japan. Buses will show up 40 minutes late, appointments occur long after they’re scheduled – nobody’s in a rush to get anywhere. The slower lifestyle partially derives from Okinawa’s role as an agricultural island. For example, most students aren’t compelled to study very hard because they take up work in agriculture shortly after middle school. The farms themselves are fairly organic. They’re small scale operations with a handful of workers and simple tools. Okinawans work collectively to meet their agricultural needs, and relationships between farmers are more symbiotic than they competitive. In Okinawa, happiness is not about having what you want, but wanting what you have already. If you’re content with what you have, you’re not scrambling for ways to fill the void.
Even while living in the city, Okinawans maintain a “cool” composure, and the immigrants take notice:
“They seem to be much less quick to lose their tempers and get into arguments…and are more forgiving. For example you don’t see much road rage here. There are lots of cars and loads of jams. But you hardly ever see people get really angry with each other - I don’t think I’ve ever seen people get violent.”
While residents of the city don’t have a farming life to turn to, the “small island effect” plays into formatting their temper.
“I think it goes back to the idea that it’s a small island where people know each other to some extent. If you get yourself into fights and arguments all the time you’re quickly going to run out of friends. That can happen quite quickly actually. Even as a foreigner when you’re not connected to anybody, its quite surprising how if you act stupidly, and do disrespectful things, the world will spread. People will be less generous and helpful to you. That’s the price you pay for being an idiot, basically.”