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Fumi · forty years in America, home to Okinawa What Okinawa Knows About Growing Old
For anyone past 65 who lives alone, or is afraid to

Being alone was never the problem. Having nobody who knows you woke up this morning, that is the problem.

I am Fumi. I am 76. I lived forty years in America, raised my children there, and when I retired I came home alone to Okinawa to grow old. I have seen both ways of aging, up close. Some of you asked me to write down what I learned. This is it: sixteen teachings, each with something to do tomorrow. The morning signal. A small reason to get up. A circle of friends. Eating to eight parts full at a table for one. And an ending note, so your children have a plan instead of a burden. Told honestly. No health promises.

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What Okinawa Knows About Growing Old, by Fumi
How it works

Three steps. No mail, no waiting.

  1. You pay once, on a secure checkout page. No subscription.
  2. The book opens on the page that comes up right after. Tap it and it opens like a photograph does.
  3. You save the files on your phone, tablet or computer, and print the pages you want. The download page works for 30 days.
Free with the book

FREEThe Ikigai Questions
+
FREEMy Ending Note

Included today, no extra cost

Plus 2 printables to keep by your bed and in your drawer

free $24.

I. If you have felt even one of these

You are not doing old age wrong. America just never taught anybody how.

"In my village, somebody notices if your shutters stay closed past eight. I want that for you, wherever you live."
II. What's inside

16 teachings in three parts. One Okinawan word at a time, explained plainly, and something to try tomorrow.

Part 1 · Two Countries, Two Old Ages (5 teachings)

The day my neighbor knocked before I had unpacked, being retired in America and needed in Okinawa, forty Thanksgivings in a quiet cul-de-sac, what America does better, and the honest truth about Okinawa's long lives and what changed at our table.

Part 2 · The Habits That Are Not Medicine (5 teachings)

An ikigai smaller than you think, hara hachi bu at a table for one, getting up from the floor every morning, the four friends who meet every month, and yuimaaru: help that goes both ways, so nobody is a burden.

Part 3 · Living Alone at 76 (6 teachings)

The morning signal, my day hour by hour, what I tell my children in America so they stop worrying, staying in your own house, sorting your things while you can still tell the stories, and the ending note.

At the back: your own ending note, pages to fill in by hand. Where the book gives a number, it says who it comes from: Japan's health ministry, its statistics bureau, researchers who studied Okinawan elders for decades, and American agencies.

III. The questions you don't say out loud

The ones that come when the house is too quiet.

IV. What this book isn't

Not a diet. Not a "live to 100" book. Not a memoir.

Okinawa was famous for long lives, and the books about it like to stop there. I won't. Since our eating changed and we began to move less, Okinawa has fallen down Japan's own life tables, and I tell you that plainly, with the numbers. What we ate, I tell you as what we ate, not as medicine. What I can give you is smaller and more useful: the habits of a place where old people are still part of the street. And I am fair to America. Some things it does better, and I say which.

What you usually hear
  • "Eat like Okinawans and live to 100."
  • "Find your life's purpose."
  • "Get out there and meet people."
  • "Just declutter everything."
What this book does
  • Tells the truth about Okinawa, numbers and all
  • Finds a reason to get up that fits in one morning
  • Builds a small circle, not a crowd
  • Sorts your things with the stories attached
V. Who wrote it

A grandmother who grew old in both places.

I am Fumi. I went to America as a young woman and stayed forty years. I worked, I raised a son and a daughter, I buried my husband there. When I retired, my children and grandchildren stayed in America and I came home to Okinawa, alone, to a one-floor house with a red tile roof. Now I am 76. I know what an American suburb is like for an old woman, and I know what an Okinawan street is like. The difference is not the food. It is who notices you.

This book is the difference, written down.

VI. The e-book

Pay once. Read it today, on any device. Print the pages you want.

$49.99$27

$49.99 is the regular price. $27 is the launch price, while the book grows.

This is an e-book, a digital download. Nothing is printed or mailed.

  • 16 teachings in three parts, and your own ending note to fill in
  • Plus 2 printables, free (worth $24)

  • A PDF laid out like a book in large, easy type, and an EPUB for e-readers, tablets and phones
  • Download page right after payment, good for 30 days
  • No copy protection, on all your devices
  • Pay once. No subscription.
Get the e-book · $27
VII. Questions

Before you ask

Is this a printed book?

No. It's an e-book: a PDF and an EPUB you download right after you pay. Nothing comes in the mail. You can make the letters as big as you like on a screen, or print the pages you want, like the ending note.

I'm not Japanese. Is this for me?

Yes. It is written for Americans. I lived forty years among you. Every Okinawan word is explained, and every habit is something you can do in an American house, on an American street.

Will this tell me what to eat to live to 100?

No. It tells you what we ate and how we live, and it tells you honestly that Okinawa's long lives have slipped since our eating and our habits changed. For your own health, ask your doctor.

I'm not good with computers. Will I manage?

After you pay, a page opens with the book on it. You press it and it opens. Bookmark that page or save the files, so a son, daughter or neighbor can help you open them or print them later.

Are these just the videos written down?

No. A video tells one thing in a few minutes. The book has all sixteen teachings, the practical parts, and the ending note pages.

Is it a good gift for my mother or father?

Yes, especially if they live alone. You can print the ending note pages and fill them in together.

Is it medical, legal or financial advice?

No. Where it gives a fact, it names who it comes from, and it tells you to ask your doctor or the right office about your own case. In a crisis in the United States, call or text 988.

Is Fumi a real person?

Fumi is a character. Her stories draw on the experiences of many long lives in Okinawa and in America, told through one grandmother so they read like a conversation at her table. The facts in the book are real, and each one was checked against the source it comes from.

What if I don't like it?

Write to us at the address at the bottom of this page within 48 hours of your purchase and you'll get your money back.

The last page

In Okinawa, every twelve years, your family celebrates you. At my last one I wished for only one thing: that every old person I left behind in America had someone who knows they woke up.

You can build that, on your own street, starting tomorrow morning. Sixteen small teachings show you how.

Get the e-book · $27