By JUDIT KAWAGUCHI
---Contributed by Dr.Venugopal, Kolhapur.
At the age of 97 years and 4 months, Shigeaki Hinohara is one of theworld's longest-serving physicians and educators. Hinohara's magictouch is legendary: Since 1941 he has been healing patients at St.Luke's International Hospital in Tokyo and teaching at St. Luke'sCollege of Nursing. After World War II, he envisioned a world-classhospital and college springing from the ruins of Tokyo; thanks to hispioneering spirit and business savvy, the doctor turned theseinstitutions into the nation's top medical facility and nursingschool. Today he serves as chairman of the board of trustees at bothorganizations. Always willing to try new things, he has publishedaround 150 books since his 75th birthday, including one "Living Long,Living Good" that has sold more than 1.2 million copies. As thefounder of the New Elderly Movement, Hinohara encourages others tolive a long and happy life, a quest in which no role model is betterthan the doctor himself.Doctor Shigeaki Hinohara JUDIT KAWAGUCHIPHOTOEnergy comes from feeling good, not from eating well or sleeping alot. We all remember how as children, when we were having fun, weoften forgot to eat or sleep. I believe that we can keep that attitudeas adults, too. It's best not to tire the body with too many rulessuch as lunchtime and bedtime.All people who live long regardless of nationality, race or gendershare one thing in common: None are overweight. For breakfast I drinkcoffee, a glass of milk and some orange juice with a tablespoon ofolive oil in it. Olive oil is great for the arteries and keeps my skinhealthy. Lunch is milk and a few cookies, or nothing when I am toobusy to eat. I never get hungry because I focus on my work. Dinner isveggies, a bit of fish and rice, and, twice a week, 100 grams of leanmeat.Always plan ahead. My schedule book is already full until 2014, withlectures and my usual hospital work. In 2016 I'll have some fun,though: I plan to attend the Tokyo Olympics!There is no need to ever retire, but if one must, it should be a lotlater than 65.. The current retirement age was set at 65 half acentury ago, when the average life-expectancy in Japan was 68 yearsand only 125 Japanese were over 100 years old. Today, Japanese womenlive to be around 86 and men 80, and we have 36,000 centenarians inour country. In 20 years we will have about 50,000 people over the ageof 100..Share what you know. I give 150 lectures a year, some for 100elementary-school children, others for 4,500 business people. Iusually speak for 60 to 90 minutes, standing, to stay strong.When a doctor recommends you take a test or have some surgery, askwhether the doctor would suggest that his or her spouse or children gothrough such a procedure. Contrary to popular belief, doctors can'tcure everyone. So why cause unnecessary pain with surgery I thinkmusic and animal therapy can help more than most doctors imagine.To stay healthy, always take the stairs and carry your own stuff. Itake two stairs at a time, to get my muscles moving.My inspiration is Robert Browning's poem "Abt Vogler." My father usedto read it to me. It encourages us to make big art, not smallscribbles. It says to try to draw a circle so huge that there is noway we can finish it while we are alive. All we see is an arch; therest is beyond our vision but it is there in the distance.Pain is mysterious, and having fun is the best way to forget it. If achild has a toothache, and you start playing a game together, he orshe immediately forgets the pain. Hospitals must cater to the basicneed of patients: We all want to have fun. At St. Luke's we have musicand animal therapies, and art classes.Don't be crazy about amassing material things. Remember: You don'tknow when your number is up, and you can't take it with you to thenext place.Hospitals must be designed and prepared for major disasters, and theymust accept every patient who appears at their doors. We designed St.Luke's so we can operate anywhere: in the basement, in the corridors,in the chapel. Most people thought I was crazy to prepare for acatastrophe, but on March 20, 1995, I was unfortunately proven rightwhen members of the Aum Shinrikyu religious cult launched a terroristattack in the Tokyo subway. We accepted 740 victims and in two hoursfigured out that it was sarin gas that had hit them.. Sadly we lostone person, but we saved 739 lives.Science alone can't cure or help people. Science lumps us alltogether, but illness is individual. Each person is unique, anddiseases are connected to their hearts. To know the illness and helppeople, we need liberal and visual arts, not just medical ones.Life is filled with incidents. On March 31, 1970, when I was 59 yearsold, I boarded the Yodogo, a flight from Tokyo to Fukuoka. It was abeautiful sunny morning, and as Mount Fuji came into sight, the planewas hijacked by the Japanese Communist League-Red Army Faction. Ispent the next four days handcuffed to my seat in 40-degree heat. As adoctor, I looked at it all as an experiment and was amazed at how thebody slowed down in a crisis.Find a role model and aim to achieve even more than they could everdo. My father went to the United States in 1900 to study atDukeUniversity in North Carolina. He was a pioneer and one of my heroes. Later I found a few more life guides, and when I am stuck, Iask myself how they would deal with the problem.It's wonderful to live long. Until one is 60 years old, it is easy towork for one's family and to achieve one's goals. But in our lateryears, we should strive to contribute to society. Since the age of 65,I have worked as a volunteer. I still put in 18 hours seven days aweek and love every minute of it.
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