Probably not. The US does not have the same statistical problems Japan does, but Japanese Americans live 2 years longer than Japanese.

http://minorityhealth.hhs.gov/templates/browse.aspx?lvl=2...

the bullshit part is that people think the japanese actually do those things that make you live longer. maybe everyone in japan ate an okinawan diet... in okinawa, 200 years ago. japan today is one of the worlds largest beer consuming countries. They are hardcore smokers, junk food fiends, hanbaagaa setto aficionados, subject themselves to 2 hour train rides, oppressive family lives, bipolar attitudes towards sex (lots of porn; little actual sex), insane work hours or unemployed shut-ins, and so on and so forth. If anything the longevity of the japanese is a counterexample to what most people think makes people live longer...

You are overly exaggerating things. First, concerning junk food, it is nowhere near what you find in the US, especially quantity-wise (to give a stupid example, the biggest menu in Mc Donald's in Japan is smaller than the smallest thing you can get in the US). The figures for obesity, while rising, are nowhere near the US or West Europe figures.

I don't see how the attitude toward sex or oppressive family are linked to life expectancy.

Looks like it. Now can they check the French out because I have a hard time believing a high cholesterol diet and smoking doesn't have a negative effect on longevity.

depends on the data sources - I assume they use different data for these kinds of studies