Japanese Secrets to Health, Fitness, and Longevity

The Japanese population is known to be one of the healthiest on the planet, with low obesity rates, high life expectancy rates (84.95, and up to nearly 88 years for women), and one of the world's highest concentration of centenarians (if you've watched the recent Blue Zone documentary series on Netflix, you'll be familiar with how Okinawans make up a big portion of global centenarians).

Meanwhile, in the US obesity rates soar at 41.9% nationwide, and average life expectancy is considerably shorter at 77.5 years. Many other countries also experience similar health statistics that are concerning. Let's explore Japan's secrets to staying healthy and living long.

What it's like to get your education in Japan

My class of sixth grade Japanese students.

In my three years of experience teaching K-12 in Japan, I learned more about the Japanese education system and school life than I could ever have from any book. Just as my homestay at a high school in Kobe, Japan taught me, there are plenty of similarities between school in the U.S. vs Japan, but plenty of things that are different, too. Although it was never my intention to become a teacher, it’s the most popular method to live and work in Japan, and it was an eye-opening experience that taught me a lot about Japanese people and their culture and beliefs than if I had had a regular job.

Last Update of Izanau Articles

Today I have some unfortunate news to share: the website that I have been writing for as a freelancer since April 2016, www.izanau.com, has been suspended. Luckily the site will still be up, just not receiving any updates from now on, so you can still check out all of my articles (I've Been Writing Up a Storm! Check Out my Articles!, Even More Articles, and Special Announcement on Update of Freelance Articles). I've listed my final six articles below! It was fun while it lasted, and it was basically my dream job combining my love of writing with Japan. The plus side is there will be a bunch of new blogs coming soon that didn't make it all the way to publication with izanau! Thanks for reading!

Big in Japan: Who and What is Moomin?

Moomin, a hippopotamus-like character created by Finnish author Tove Jansson, has been wildly popular throughout the years in Japan. Lake Miyazawa will be home to the first Moomin theme park outside of Finland and is set to open in 2017.