5 Healthy Japanese Habits

I am often asked why Japanese people are so healthy and have a long lifespan. Japan has various problems within its society and daily life such as natural disasters, “karoshi”; death by fatigue from overworking, and suiside. But there are also good traits and habits that contribute to health and longevity of its citizens. Here are my opinion of 5 healthy Japanese habits.

1. Taking a Bath Daily
In Japan, there are more than 3000 hot spring areas. Public baths are everywhere in the city and bathtubs are installed in every single household. Japanese people love taking a bath, even the monkeys over there do. Bath warms your body, relaxes your muscles, and water pressure helps improve metabolism as well as excrete toxins out of your body. Moreover, being in the water reduces the pressure on bones and muscles, which helps to relieve back pain, still shoulders and others.

2. Cleaning
Japanese people have a habit of cleaning daily. I do not like cleaning but I do not like my house to be messy or dirty more. Instead of cleaning once a week, they clean one room or one spot every day. For example, cleaning the kitchen on Monday, vacuuming on Tuesday etc etc. They do laundry every day as well. No reason to ‘save’ dirty clothes for a week. They also clean their neighborhood and public area such as sidewalks, dumpster area and parks when they have time. Cleaning in fact connects to an important concept of Shintoism, which is cleanliness. Another reason of having the cleaning habit might come from the childhood that students learn to clean their school daily since 1st grade. Keeping the environment clean and hygenic is another reason for healthy long life.

3. Radio Taiso
Have you every heard of Radio Calisthenics? This is a common exercise you can see in the morning in Japan, 6:30 am to be exact. It’s called Radio Taiso, which is a composition of many stretches and movements you do with a music which used to be able to listen from a radio station. It is said to be one of the reasons why Japan is considered to be the country of longevity from overseas. It was originally made in 1928 (almost 100 years ago!) to improve health of Japanese citizens. It is quite a workout if you do it seriously. As many as 13 types of exercises are combined within a little over 3 minutes. Since your body moves continously, it does not only have a cardio - like effect, but also have a yoga - like effect. I remember I needed to wake up 6 am every weekdays during the summer break in order to go to Radio Taiso Exercise at 630 am which was administered by a retired volunteered man in the neighborhood at a front yard of shrine temple nearby. You would bring a calendar card and the ojichan (volunteered old neighbor) would give you an attendance stamp each morning after the exercise. You will get a prize from your classroom teacher in September if you didn’t take any day off from Radio Taiso. I remember I was at my grandparents’ house for 2 weeks one summer. My grandfather bought the exact same little stamp at a store for me and stamped on my calender every day but we did Radio Taiso much later the day.

4. Getting Up Early
Here is an interesting story around 1900s, which was written by Lafcadio Hearn; who was a Greek - Japanese writer, translator, and teacher who introduced the culture and literature of Japan. His Japanese name was Koizumi Yakumo. ‘One morning before the sun rose, I heard some noise near my house. I wondered what it was and looked outside, the villagers were chatting, gargling and washing their face using well water. As soon as the sun rose from othe mountain, they all turned to the sun and prayed with a clap of their hands, “thank you for always looking over us”. Until about 100 years ago, Japanese people used to get up early every morning to worship the sun, which is the supreme diety of Japan in Shintoism. Now this habit only remains during New Year. By waking up early, you will be exposed to the morning sun, your natural body clock will reset and be in tune with the day’s energy.

5. Eating Japanese Food
Japanese food has a good nutritional balance. It was registered as a healthy practice by UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2013. A Japanese meal usually consists of one soup and three side dishes. Rice; the main dish is high in carbohydrates. Fish and soy products are high in protein. You can get vitamins and minerals from stewed and pickled vegetables. Japanese food is a healthy, well balanced diet, and let’s not forget it is very colorful and pretty to look at as well, which is important to them.

Above are just my opinion. Comment below if you could think of any other Japanese healthy habit or your healthy habit to share.