I know that there's people who are at least 100 years old or above in Japan, as their life expectancy is higher. The shortest answer is diet & portion sizes: since Japanese cuisine consists of seafood, rice, soybeans, and seasonal vegetables. Most portion sizes are controlled and turn out being smaller with a cultural practice of 腹八分 (はらはちぶん) or eat until about 80% full. (They opt for cold, green or hot tea rather than sodas).

There's universal health care coverage in Japan at least while in USA people stress about medical bills a lot. Exercise is incentivized in Japan via active movement (not as car dependent) from walking, cycling, and using stairs are built into everyday routines keeping people mobile into old age. That's the opposite of US since they're heavily dependent on "the car" as opposed to public transit, bicycles or walking on foot.

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[–] 23 points 1 day ago

It's not that simple. People seem to be so focused on just the diet they forget about the bigger picture. Starting from healthcare, which is notoriously bad in the US, all the way to community, which studies have shown to be directly related to improved health (again, weaker in the US, stronger in Japan).

Even if just focusing on the diet, two people in the US and in Japan could have the exact same diet yet have different health outcomes, due to the poorer food quality and safety standards in the US (not even gonna go into food deserts and pollution which are a whole other thing).

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