The elixir of youth

A string of islands in the South China Sea might just hold the secret to a long and healthy life. Luke Abrahams made the journey to find out what it involves

- Luke Abrahams

I AM in Okinawa, a prefecture of 150 islands where the locals refuse to die. The archipelago, part of Japan and one of the so-called Blue Zones, regions in the world where people live longer than average, has a higher percentage of centenarians than anywhere else on the planet. Other Blue Zones include Nicoya in Costa Rica, and Icaria in Greece. It is, in many respects, a time capsule of longevity. And, after only a few minutes being here, it’s easy to see why.

Okinawa is part of a larger chain of islands called the Southwest Islands, semitropical and coral-fringed (some UNESCO listed), far removed from the mania of Japan’s mainland and the obsession with modernity, trends, technology and the fast lane it shares with the West. Here, a propensity for the slow life, stretching back generations to the 15th-century beginnings of the Ryukyu Kingdom, still endures.