OKINAWANS since I last visited Ushi five years ago, she's taken a new job. tried to run away from home, and started wearing perfume. Normal for a young woman, perhaps, but Ushi is 103. When I ask about the perfume, she jokes that she has a new boyfriend. then puts a hand over her mouth and gives a long heart warming laugh. "Okinawans have one-fifth the heart disease, one-fourth the breast and prostate cancer, and one-third less mental health problems than Americans," says Craig Willcox of the Okinawa Centenarian Study. What's the key to their success? "Ikigai certainly helps, Willcox says. The word translates to"reason for living" and it may help to prevent stress and diseases such as high blood pressure. Okinawans have a low-calorie diet. "A full plate of Okinawan vegetables, tofu, miso soup, and a little fish or meat contains fewer calories than a small hamburger," says Makoto Suzuki of the Okinawa Centenarian Study. "And it will have many more healthy nutrients.