Centenarians in Japan hit record 92,139; women account for 88%

The number of centenarians in Japan stood at 153 in 1963, when data were first collected. The figure topped the 10,000 mark in 1998,

Amazing - in the space of just 25 years, the population of centenarians has gone from 10,000 in '98 to 92,139! Medical advances have come a long way in just a short time.

Wishing all these people many, many more years of life and good health. Hopefully in the future the average lifespan will be well over 100.

Japan has done an awesome job at improving the longevity of its citizens.

Sometimes when I go out early in the morning I am in awe at there power and strength of the super seniors going to their radio exercise class in the local park while at the same time thinking.....wow,this just looks like an episode from the 'Walking Dead!'

Unfortunately many of these people are in poor health and being merely kept alive by unscrupulous medical institutions.

I hate to be the party pooper, but what is the benefit of living to these ages? Most of these people just sit all day on life support.

Average life expectancy at 87 is very impressive.

People in my country start packing up once they hit 70.

88% are women. Men need to find out what these women know. More chillaxin?

88% are women. Men need to find out what these women know. More chillaxin?

Speed, interestingly, women outlive men in every society. One theory I've read is that, from far back in human history, women were the repositories of knowledge. Whereas men upon reaching old age and their ability to hunt diminished were simply a burden on their group, women continued able to contribute well into their old age. Thus, groups with men who died earlier and women later were more successful.

This one is a pretty big W for Japan.

We often hear about how large a percentage of the population is elderly, but hey, they're living long lives. A lot of societies can't say that.

88% are women. Men need to find out what these women know. More chillaxin?

No smoking, no drinking would explain a lot of the disparity.

Hopefully with very few Japanese men now smoking, the gap will close in the coming decades.

I mean just go to any private clinic anywhere and you will see a bunch of 70 and over women sitting around talking. People this age have turned private clinics into community centers, and the clinics happily takes them in as they can constantly give out prescriptions and do checks on minor issues that isn't really needed, paid for by our taxes. The plus with this though is that when ever there is a big issue they get discovered and treated quickly.

In our local gym which we visit twice a week, there are many much older people, 80+ who come to exercise and make social contact. They take long walks every day.

People aren’t supposed to live that long, it’s not a good thing for Japan and its economy at all.

We are all paying for this with our overinflated health insurance contributions every month.

And, as someone wrote above - a lot of these people are merely vegetables being kept alive by life support machines. I’ve seen them when I was hospitalised.

women have more tolerance for pain?

Most of them are lying in hospital beds, feeding tube in stomach, twisted up like pretzels. It’s no quality of life.

Bravo! Japanese/Nipponese friends you guys especially girls are leading the world by showing how to live!

It’s not a nice way to live at that age Jaswinder, from what I’ve seen

Curled up in a hospital bed, tubes everywhere, body shrunken in size, no idea of where they are or what day it is.

I am certain many of these centenarians live in my town, I see them driving their Kei trucks.

@ Tell me bout it -

People in my country start packing up once they hit 70.

You African?

A few tips for free.

Don't smoke. Don't drink alcohol. Don't eat sweets - no sugar. Eat lots of seafood, lots of fruit, veges and legumes, very little red meat. Exercise daily. Keep active socially. Very regular check ups- several times a year.

Follow these tips and you will live longer than your short-lived countrymen and women, I'd bet on it! Good luck.

Don't smoke. Don't drink alcohol. Don't eat sweets - no sugar. .... Follow these tips and you will live longer

Well, at least it will feel like it.

@Fighto

Don't smoke. Don't drink alcohol. Don't eat sweets - no sugar. Eat lots of seafood, lots of fruit, veges and legumes, very little red meat. Exercise daily. Keep active socially. Very regular check ups- several times a year.

….

What a crappy boring life!

I’m happy to bow out at 70 years or so

Congrats to them, although I hope their quality of life is at least enough they are happy to continue living. Also, this number will decrease rapidly over the next few years, not just because the current centenarains will die, but because Japan will join the rest of the world quite soon in a lower average life-span. The people living to and beyond 100 now had very different lifestyles than the next few generations.

Not good for countries finances.

Wow, that's a HUGE gender disparity. Men of that generation used to rip unfiltered cigarettes like they were going out of style, and chug from plastic 3L jugs of gut rot shochu every night so that's what accounts for it, I bet.

I am sure people 100 and above strongly contribute to the progressive and global views of Japanese society, remembering their 20s when Japan was so close to foreigners like Germans and Italians and many very active interactions with most Asian neighbors…

Women didn't work their entire lives. Just spent it hanging up washing and talking trivia with their neighbours.

Yeah, the women born in 1923, who were 23/24 when the war ended, had time for tea and trivia with their neighbors.

That was probably the most clueless quote made on JT this week.

Don't smoke. Don't drink alcohol. Don't eat sweets - no sugar. Eat lots of seafood, lots of fruit, veges and legumes, very little red meat. Exercise daily. Keep active socially. Very regular check ups- several times a year.

And never have sex? I assume that's part of your dogma. Do you enjoy your life?

I don't smoke, don't drink, and don't eat sweets. I don't eat much seafood, but I eat a lot of fruits and veggies, and only eat red meat once a week. I exercise daily, with regular checkups several times a year.

And get this, my wife and I are like rabbits now that we're in the same country as each other.

It's a good life. The thing about exercise and good health is that you feel good about your body, and you have lots of energy for sex.

Who want to be a 100 and not in good mind and body,and have no control of their bodily functions ,and nobody their to take care of you especially in Japan

Women didn't work their entire lives. Just spent it hanging up washing and talking trivia with their neighbours.

Total hogwash and poppycock.

Raising kids, keeping house , running a family, IS work. And it never ends. There is no retirement, no day after which everything is done for you. And it’s keeping active, having stuff to do, that keeps women healthy well into old age.

Far too many men see retirement as the cue to do nothing, to be waited on hand and foot - they’ve done their bit. The change in lifestyle is abrupt; suddenly there is no need to do anything, no purpose in life. They stagnate.

I see this with a lot of my neighbours; for the husband every day is Sunday, while the wife continues washing the clothes, cooking the meals, running the house as well as enjoying chat time with friends, continuing hobbies, etc. Not every retired couple is like this of course, but far too many are.

Add in Laguna’s very salient point, that grannies looking after grandkids and otherwise making themselves useful, have in evolutionary terms been of greater value to society than grandads no longer able to bring the bacon home and cluttering up the cave, and it’s only natural that females tend to live longer.

The same phenomenon can be observed in killer whales. Female whales live longer, and a pod with a matriarch thrives better than one without.

Men, if you want to live long and meaningful lives, help out with the grandkids, wash the dishes and put them away, get a hobby that gets you out into the community. Don’t take retirement as the cue to stagnate.

Congratulations for them, God bless them...

Scoring a century and going beyond is a remarkable achievement. The Japanese people are special. They do things in an intelligent way. They all know the secret of living a long life. I love the work ethics of the Blue Samurais and the Nadeshiko Japan. Even the Japanese football fans leave good memories behind.

Fighto!Sep. 15  04:45 pm JST

The number of centenarians in Japan stood at 153 in 1963, when data were first collected. The figure topped the 10,000 mark in 1998,

Amazing - in the space of just 25 years, the population of centenarians has gone from 10,000 in '98 to 92,139! Medical advances have come a long way in just a short time.

Wishing all these people many, many more years of life and good health. Hopefully in the future the average lifespan will be well over 100.

There must be something right going on there. Tokyo is the largest city in the world yet the standards in Japan are so good.

The longest living man was Japanese, he was registered as a 6 y/o at the first modern census. He said he liked to watch TV and his advice was 'not to worry'. He lived to be 116. He, like all these centenarians have lived through a lot and have much to say about how Japan and the whole world has radically changed and evolved.

Here in the US many of my aunts and uncles are in their 90s. More people are living longer.