The Ties That Run Deep
Mountain moai, deep earth water, and belonging in Yamanashi / Leg 2: Top Ten and Bottom Three Longevity Journey
This autumn I am traveling through thirteen Japanese prefectures identified by my True Longevity Index (TLI)™, the Top Ten and Bottom Three, looking beyond the numbers for clues about what helps us live not simply longer, but well for longer.
Yamanashi was a stop on the second leg of that journey.
Amid the chatter around a table, one woman leaned forward and looked directly at me with an earnestness that told me she wanted to be heard.
“The most important thing,” she said, “is honesty.”
Until then, the conversation had been interesting but meandering. I sat with members of a mujin in Yamanashi after their monthly gathering, asking how it worked, why they belonged, and what had kept them coming back over the years. Several people answered at once when this woman, one of the leaders, cut through the conversation with that single word.
I would come back to it.
I knew Yamanashi long before I came here following the longevity trail. When our boys were young, we escaped Nagoya's brutal August heat for the cooler air around Lake Yamanaka. We spent hours beachcombing and sailing on the lake, waiting for the clouds to part and Fuji to reveal herself. Over the years, I cycled around the Fuji Five Lakes and climbed Fuji five times.
This journey was different. I came because the data brought me here.
The TLI™ is a compass, not a conclusion. It tells me where to go. Once there, I read, watch, listen, and write, looking for the people, places, and patterns behind the numbers.
In Yamanashi, that trail led me to mujin—what I began thinking of, somewhat loosely, as mountain moai. It also led me to deep earth water beneath Fuji, older farmers still very much engaged in the life around them, and an 87-year-old woman running a roadside shop she didn't even start until she was 72.
Different clues. But gradually I began to see something connecting them.
The ties that sustain us may run much deeper than we think.
To read the complete article, including what I discovered about mountain moai, deep earth water, and the Art of Community in Yamanashi, click here.
