Early in my research for Longevity and the Art of Community: Lessons from Japan , a leading gerontologist made a remark that has stayed with me. Professor James McNally of the University of Michigan and a colleague in the International Academic Forum suggested that I might be studying the last cohort of super-agers in Japan. At the time, the phrase struck me as dramatic. The longer I travel, the more I listen, and the more I compare what I see with the data, the more I thin

Why I Love This Family Photo I saw this photo in a social media post at 5:30 this morning. It brought a smile. The smile wasn’t just about familiar faces; it was recognition, and with it a sense of admiration, appreciation, and even inspiration. This is what it looks like when an NPO gets it right. Not all do. If you are interested, here`s why: I’ve spent a lifetime in community development and charity work, and over the years, one conviction has only grown stronger: you r

Longevity is not just adding years to life, but firsts to years. Perhaps it was the contrast that made the question unavoidable. I had spent a week in Tokyo immersed in research on aging, and then leaving Tokyo on the Shinkansen, whizzing past Japan's largest mountain, Mt Fuji, where, I hoped to snatch a photo, but just at the moment when Japan`s iconic peak came into view, my phone pinged with a photo of my six-month-old grandson tasting corn for the first time. The pic my

As writing becomes effortless with AI, it is worth asking what happens to the process that gives it meaning. That question sharpened when I learned that Amazon had recently limited authors to 3 uploads per day. Yep, that’s right. Three books a day! That decision alone tells you the scale of what is happening. At the same time, AI tools can now generate articles, blogs, and even books instantly from a simple prompt. The result is a flood of AI-generated material. I deliberat

(after travelling it slowly, repeatedly, and from the margins) The longer I spend in Japan, and the more slow and solo travel I do, the more I realise how much I need to unlearn: the assumptions you carry before you arrive, and the ones that linger long after. Forty-seven prefectures. Thirty-nine by bicycle. Twenty by sailboat. Many repeat visits and months of immersion. Two years spent seeking out longevity hot spots. Unlearning, I’ve discovered, is often the precursor to di

Lessons in interdependence from Japan’s longevity communities and a boat in Buren Bay. This week I watched something unexpectedly instructive. After some time moored in the middle of the bay, I moved my boat to a small fishing port and tied her against the wall. On the way in, she felt slower than usual. From the dock, I could look down and see why: a thin layer of marine growth had formed along the hull. Not dramatic. Just enough to create drag. Then a school of fish appeare

A rabbit hole I fell into after finishing a book on longevity in Japan I’ve just finished writing a book on longevity lessons from Japan, and the manuscript is now in my agent’s hands. For various reasons, I can’t share much from the book itself at the moment. But since submission, I found myself down a rabbit hole. Before writing it, I spent fifteen months moored in Okinawa, long celebrated as one of the world’s most famous “Blue Zones.” While there, I made an uncomfortable

Men and Women and the Shape of Decline in the RED ZONE For the past year, I have been researching and writing a book about longevity hot spots in Japan.  The project was triggered after spending 15 months moored in Okinawa from late 2023, immersed in what has long been described as the world’s most famous Blue Zone .  It was there that I ran into an uncomfortable truth.  Statistically, Okinawa has lost ground in the longevity tables compared to the rest of Japan.  That meant

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