Many people think ikigai means discovering a grand purpose.n reality, it is often much simpler. A reason to get up. A place to go. People who know your name. ...
Japan Solo
Today I rode in a beautifully restored 1957 MGA with my friend Tony a classic enthusiast @fastbikejp It wasn't lost on me that the car was almost exactly my ...
I do not like retirement homes. That may sound provocative, especially as aging societies rapidly build more of them. But after traveling across Japan’s ...
As I continue traveling through Japan’s longevity hotspots, I keep hearing a surprisingly common response from people who remain active, healthy, and engaged ...
In Japan’s longevity hotspots, healthy aging is not reinforced only through healthcare or individual habits. It is woven into the annual rhythm of community ...
More than a century ago, writer Lafcadio Hearn observed that Japan viewed life, family, and community differently from the modern West. Less linear. More ...
The fishing harbor is empty today. A typhoon is approaching, and the village has prepared. The longer I spend in Japan’s remote longevity hotspots, the more ...
As I continue traveling through Japan’s longevity hotspots, I keep noticing recurring patterns. One of them is simple: Many of the people who age well tend ...
In a remote village near where my boat Wahine is moored in Amami, a weathered stone has long been part of a local coming-of-age ritual. At first glance, it ...
The goal is not to stay young. It is to remain engaged with life. Curious. Connected. Active. Participating in the world around you. A small Field Note from ...
Fresh food. Local people. Shared meals. The deeper I travel into Japan’s longevity hotspots, the more I suspect healthy aging is not just about what people ...
Back in my remote island village in Japan. The more time I spend traveling through Japan’s longevity hotspots, the more I notice the same patterns repeating ...
Over the past two years traveling through Japan’s longevity hotspots, I kept noticing something unexpected: Many older people practice haiku. This week in ...
For years, Japan has fascinated the world with its long-lived population. But what if part of that story was never just diet, exercise, or healthcare? What if ...
Two women shaped how I think about aging. Both lived to 92. One was my mother in Canada. The other, my neighbor in Japan. One experienced years of ...
They don`t birthdays in Japan. Here is why. In my travels across Japan, I’ve noticed something striking: many older people don’t count their birthdays. In ...
I took a 91-year-old woman sailing. She came with four generations of her family—the youngest just one year old. She lives independently, plays golf and ...
The "Pacific Solo" journey has concluded, making way for an exciting new chapter: The Longevity Project with the Never Too Late Academy. I will feature field ...
After nearly two years researching and writing Longevity and the Art of Community: Lessons from Japan, I thought I’d be ready to let it go. But this book isn’t ...
Last day in Tokyo. I was invited to an event on Aging in Japan. Tonight, I head back to the island… back to the boat. To prepare for something special. In a ...
I was speeding away from Tokyo after a week at an aging conference when something unexpected interrupted the moment: A photo, A first. And then a question I ...
I’m flying to the mainland for a conference on aging with the International Academic Forum But when I return to Amami, something special is happening. A ...
From a distance, Japan looks uniform. On the ground, it fragments. A fishing village in Okinawa doesn’t move like Osaka. A mountain town in Nagano doesn’t ...
In 2025, I set out to follow the cherry blossoms the length of Japan by boat. What unfolded instead was a slower journey through Japan’s longevity hotspots, ...