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Secrets From the Longest-Living Place on Earth in AARP Health,
A healthy diet, among other things, contribute to town's remarkable turnaround, by Kirk Spitzer, AARP Bulletin, May 2014

Excerpts:
"A focus on diet
The first step in boosting Nagano's life span was a campaign to reduce salt consumption and promote a healthier diet and lifestyle. Miso soup, served three times a day in many homes, became a prime target of health officials. Cases of hypertension and related illnesses began to decline shortly after, Sonohara says. The region of 2.1 million people now has some 4,500 volunteers who host seminars and clinics at supermarkets, shopping malls and community centers. They also conduct regular home visits to measure the salt content in daily meals and make dietary recommendations. "Our goal and our motives had nothing to do with becoming number one in life expectancy," said Sonohara. "[But] individual efforts and local initiatives gradually changed the lifestyle, and that in turn lengthened the life expectancy for the region as a whole."

"The efforts paid off with surprising speed. By 1990, life expectancy for men had risen three years in a decade in Nagano prefecture, and 3.5 years for women. Nagano life spans continued to climb until they topped all of Japan by 2010. Rates of deaths due to cancer, heart and liver disease, and pneumonia now rank well below the national average."

"Those preventive care efforts contributed to lower health care costs in Nagano, which came to about $2,488 per person in 2009. The per capita average in Japan was $3,120, according to a survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation. That compares with $8,233 in the United States. Japan's national health insurance program, which covers virtually all residents, including those in intensive nursing care, is funded in part by local contributions. "Preventive medicine is much less costly than having to put people in the hospital," Sugenoya says."

Article at:
http://www.aarp.org/health/healthy-living/info-2014/longevity-secrets-from-japan.2.html