Okinawa, Japan—the islands once called the “land of the immortals”—recorded just 37 centenarians in 1975. By 2022 there were 1,334…

Okinawa's centenarian count rose enormously, but different counting systems, a striking sex split and a postwar cohort reversal make the history more revealing than a longevity recipe.

By The Balance · Aug 24, 2026

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