A 100-year-old doctor in Japan still sees patients at a family-owned hospital in Wakayama Prefecture. He eats a lot of vegetables, does numerical puzzles every day, and plays the piano.
Doctor Teru Kasamatsu still works three days a week at Kasamatsu Hospital in Kainan City. The hospital has been a part of Kasamatsu’s existence for almost 80 years, since it opened in 1909.
Kasamatsu was born in 1925 in what is now Kinokawa City, Wakayama Prefecture. He was the fourth of five children.
She thinks that eating well and keeping her intellect fresh are what keep her alive. “Eat a lot of veggies, such as broccoli, spinach, cabbage, and okra. “Vegetables are good for you because they help keep your blood sugar levels down,” she told Yomiuri Shimbun.
Before the pandemic, she enjoyed to travel with friends. She also said that she is careful to cut back on salt in her diet and eat her veggies first. She doesn’t linger on things she can’t change.
“Things have gone well so far, even without overthinking. Wakayama Shimpo says, “I’ll just take it easy.”
Secrets of a 100-year-old doctor who still sees patients for a long time Three times a week
The keys to living a long life from a 100-year-old doctor who still sees patients Three times a week
A screenshot from a report by Wakayama Telecasting Corporation shows doctor Teru Kasamatsu (L) getting a present from a Kainan official to commemorate her long life ahead of Japan’s Respect for the Aged Day, a public holiday that happens every year, in 2024.
Kasamatsu decided to become a doctor in high school because her father, who saw many women lose their husbands in the war, told her to study a trade and be independent.
She got her degree in 1948 and married Shigeru, a surgeon, when she was 24. When Shigeru’s father died, she started working at Kasamatsu Hospital with her husband. According to the Yomiuri Shimbun, the couple ran the hospital and took care of their three kids.
Kasamatsu remembers days when she saw up to 120 patients, not counting the nights she stayed up all night helping with emergency surgery. She stated she handled everything, from taking tests to writing prescriptions to keeping the books. She got a cooking license in her 30s when the hospital needed a cook.
According to Yomiuri Shimbun, her son, Dr. Satoshi, 68, is now in charge of the hospital that looks out over Wakayama Bay. He claims his mother is “good at creating an atmosphere where it’s easy to talk” that helps patients open up.
Kasamatsu kept living a full life even though she was busy and had to go to the hospital for cancer treatment.
Yomiuri Shimbun said that she started learning to play the piano with her husband when she was 70 and still plays now.
She has lived alone in a house near to the hospital since her husband died, yet she still gets around without a cane. She spends one to two hours a day on number puzzles to help keep her mind sharp and avoid dementia. She reads medical books in her own time to keep up with the latest news. Wakayama Shimpo claims she has no plans to retire.
As of September, there were 99,763 people in Japan who were 100 years old or older. This was the highest number ever recorded, and it was the 55th straight year that the figure had gone up, Japan’s Ministry of Health said on September 12.
There are around 100,000 centenarians in Japan, and 88% of them are women. Shigeko Kagawa, 114, from the outskirts of Nara City, is the oldest. Kiyotaka Mizuno, 111, from the coastal city of Iwata, is the oldest man.
The government says that by the end of 2022, there were roughly 340,000 doctors in the country, 86 of whom were 98 years old or older.
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