[One Day Ten Thousand Steps, One Day One Thousand Characters] The '1 Day 10,000 Steps' Campaign That Cleared Okinawa's Reputation for Not Walking

Escaping the 'Obesity City': Visiting Okinawa<1>
Interview with Okinawa City Hall Citizen Health Department
Developed a 'Walking Guide' and Application Themselves

(Okinawa, Japan = Asia Economy Reporter Jeon Jinyoung) Okinawa is famous as a tourist destination with beautiful scenery and is strongly associated with the image of a longevity village, but ironically, it has been ranked as the region in Japan where people walk the least.

In fact, according to a 2016 survey by Japan's Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare on the average number of steps taken by 46 local governments, Okinawa men ranked 38th nationwide, and women ranked 39th. The national average number of steps in Japan is 7,779 for men and 6,776 for women, whereas Okinawa men recorded 1,000 steps fewer and women 700 steps fewer.

Okinawa Prefecture has been making continuous efforts to shed this negative reputation. The Okinawa City Hall’s vigorous promotion of the "10,000 Steps a Day (1日1萬步)" campaign was one such measure to overcome this stigma and improve the health of local residents.

Morikuchi Mari, Head of Citizen Health Division at Okinawa City Hall (right), Arakaki Akihiro, Head of Health Promotion Section (left), and Okinawa health promotion character 'Okiwagun'.

The Okinawa City Hall’s Citizen Health Division has recently developed an application (app) to encourage citizens to walk more. In Okinawa, where car usage rates are high, even short distances that could be walked are often traveled by car, raising concerns not only about health but also environmental pollution.

So much so that there was even an advertisement showing Okinawa residents calling a taxi while playing baseball. In the ad, a batter who needs to reach first base on a walk doesn’t want to run the baseball field and instead calls a taxi to get to first base, with the caption "People of Okinawa Prefecture who don’t walk." This ad, produced by a local Okinawa broadcaster, was created as part of a walking encouragement campaign.

Okinawa regional broadcast walking encouragement campaign. The subtitle reads, "Okinawa residents who do not walk. Japan's number one obesity rate." (Photo by RBC Channel)

Moriguchi Mari, head of the Citizen Health Division at Okinawa City Hall, who leads the 10,000 Steps a Day campaign, explained in an interview with Asia Economy on the 8th, “Okinawa has no train system, so transportation is limited to cars. Most people use their own cars even for short distances.” She added, “Moreover, Okinawa has a long summer, with hot weather lasting until October. It rains a lot and the UV rays are strong, making it difficult to go out and walk for long periods.”

However, Okinawa City Hall judged that walking is the most effective and easiest exercise to promote citizen health. Moriguchi emphasized the importance of walking, saying, “Walking 4,000 steps can prevent depression, 5,000 steps can prevent dementia, cardiovascular disease, and stroke, and 8,000 steps can reduce the risk of hypertension, diabetes, and cancer.” Arakaki Akihiro, the health promotion manager of the Citizen Health Division, added, “We also promote to citizens that consistently walking can save an adult about 35,000 yen (approximately 330,000 won) in medical expenses per year.”

In 2016, the city hall published a “Walking Map” by dividing Okinawa City into 37 blocks by neighborhood associations, with the meaning of “Let’s walk even near where we live.” The staff personally walked the routes, designing courses mainly on safe paths away from roads, from parks and gyms to neighborhood alleys. Each course specifies distance and step count, such as “2.4 km, 4,000 steps.”

Currently, they have gone further by developing and using an app. Originally, the campaign involved manually recording step counts from pedometers and collecting stamps, but to reduce inconvenience, the city commissioned a company to develop an app. The convenience has been well received by users. Moriguchi emphasized, “Since the app development, the number of steps taken has increased, and more than 80% of responses have been positive, saying it helped their health.”

In addition to this, the city hall also holds walking classes for all age groups. They invite professional instructors to teach the correct way to walk. A walking class is scheduled to be held at Okinawa Children’s Park on the 11th. Arakaki explained, “Parents bring elementary school children, and even elderly people in their 70s participate, so participation is happening regardless of age.”

Okinawa City plans to gradually expand such campaigns to transform into a “healthy walking city.” Moriguchi concluded the interview by saying, “The campaign is being carried out with the goal that each citizen protects their own health.”

Okinawa, Japan = Reporter Jeon Jinyoung jintonic@