YouTube video to fly free under Google's wing - washingtonpost.com
SAN FRANCISCO - Internet search leader Google is snapping up YouTube for $1.65 billion, brushing aside copyright concerns to seize a starring role in the online video revolution.
The all-stock deal announced Monday unites one of the Internet's marquee companies with one of its rapidly rising stars. It came just a few hours after YouTube unveiled three separate agreements with media companies to counter the threat of copyright-infringement lawsuits.
The price makes YouTube Inc., a still-unprofitable start-up, by far the most expensive purchase made by Google during its eight-year history. Last year, Google spent $130.5 million buying a total of 15 small companies.
Although some cynics have questioned YouTube's staying power, Google is betting that the popular video-sharing site will provide it an increasingly lucrative marketing hub as more viewers and advertisers migrate from television to the Internet.
"This is the next step in the evolution of the Internet," Google Chief Executive Officer Eric Schmidt said during a conference call Monday.
YouTube will continue to retain its brand, its new headquarters in San Bruno and all 67 employees, including co-founders Chad Hurley and Steve Chen. Meanwhile, Google will continue to run a less popular video service on its own site.
The deal is expected to close before the end of the year.
"I'm confident that with this partnership we'll have the flexibility and resources needed to pursue our goal of building the next-generation platform for serving media worldwide," said Hurley, YouTube's 29-year-old CEO.
Schmidt thinks so highly of Hurley and Chen, 28, that he compared them to Google's now 33-year-old co-founders, Sergey Brin and Larry Page.
Brin sees the similarities too. "It's hard to imagine a better fit with another company," Brin said during Monday's conference call. "This really reminds me of Google just a few short years ago."
The two companies even share a common financial bond: Sequoia Capital, an early Google investor that owns a roughly 30 percent stake in YouTube. Menlo Park-based Sequoia remains a major Google shareholder and retains a seat on the company's board - factors that might have helped the deal come together after just a week of negotiation.
YouTube has drawn less flattering comparisons to the original Napster, the once-popular music sharing service that was buried in an avalanche of copyright infringement lawsuits filed by incensed music companies and artists.
While most videos posted on YouTube are homemade, the site also features volumes of copyrighted material - a problem that has caused some critics to predict the start-up eventually would be sued into oblivion.
But Hurley and Chen have spent months cozying up with major media executives in an effort to convince them that YouTube could help them make more money by helping them connect with the growing number of people who spend most of their free time on the Internet.
As its negotiations with Google appeared to be near fruition, YouTube on Monday announced new partnerships with Universal Music Group, CBS Corp. and Sony BMG Music Entertainment. Those alliances followed a similar arrangement announced last month with Warner Music Group Inc.
The truce with Universal represented a particularly significant breakthrough because the world's largest record company had threatened to sue YouTube for copyright infringement less than a month ago.
While Google has been hauling away huge profits from the booming search market, it hasn't been able to become a major player in online video.
That should change now, predicted Forrester Research analyst Charlene Li. "This gives Google the video play they have been looking for and gives them a great opportunity to redefine how advertising is done," she said.
Investors applauded the possible acquisition as Google Inc. shares climbed $8.50 to close at $429 on the Nasdaq Stock Market, then added another $3.11 in extended trading.
Since the company started in Hurley's garage in February 2005, YouTube has blossomed into a cultural touchstone that shows more than 100 million video clips per day. The video library is eclectic, featuring everything from teenagers goofing off in their rooms to William Shatner singing "Rocket Man" during a 1970s TV show. Most clips are submitted by users.
YouTube's worldwide audience was 72.1 million by August, up from 2.8 million a year earlier, according to comScore Media Metrix.
Several other suitors, including Microsoft Corp., Yahoo Inc. and News Corp., reportedly have discussed a possible YouTube purchase in recent weeks.
"This deal looks pretty compelling for Google," said Standard & Poor's analyst Scott Kessler. "Google has been doing a lot of things right, but they are not sitting on their laurels."
Google's YouTube coup may intensify the pressure on Yahoo to make its own splash by buying Facebook.com, the Internet's second most popular social-networking site. Yahoo has reportedly offered as much as $1 billion for Palo Alto-based Facebook during months of sporadic talks.
"Yahoo really needs to step up and do something," said Roger Aguinaldo, an investment banker who also publishes a dealmaking newsletter called the M&A Advisor. "They are becoming less relevant and looking less innovative with each passing day."
Selling to Mountain View-based Google will give YouTube more technological muscle and advertising know-how, as well as generate a staggering windfall for a company that was running on credit card debt just 20 months ago.
To conserve money as it subsisted on $11.5 million in venture capital, YouTube had been based in an austere office above a San Mateo pizzeria until recently moving to more spacious quarters in a neighboring city.
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SAN FRANCISCO - Internet search leader Google is snapping up YouTube for $1.65 billion, brushing aside copyright concerns to seize a starring role in the online video revolution.
The all-stock deal announced Monday unites one of the Internet's marquee companies with one of its rapidly rising stars. It came just a few hours after YouTube unveiled three separate agreements with media companies to counter the threat of copyright-infringement lawsuits.
The price makes YouTube Inc., a still-unprofitable start-up, by far the most expensive purchase made by Google during its eight-year history. Last year, Google spent $130.5 million buying a total of 15 small companies.
Although some cynics have questioned YouTube's staying power, Google is betting that the popular video-sharing site will provide it an increasingly lucrative marketing hub as more viewers and advertisers migrate from television to the Internet.
"This is the next step in the evolution of the Internet," Google Chief Executive Officer Eric Schmidt said during a conference call Monday.
YouTube will continue to retain its brand, its new headquarters in San Bruno and all 67 employees, including co-founders Chad Hurley and Steve Chen. Meanwhile, Google will continue to run a less popular video service on its own site.
The deal is expected to close before the end of the year.
"I'm confident that with this partnership we'll have the flexibility and resources needed to pursue our goal of building the next-generation platform for serving media worldwide," said Hurley, YouTube's 29-year-old CEO.
Schmidt thinks so highly of Hurley and Chen, 28, that he compared them to Google's now 33-year-old co-founders, Sergey Brin and Larry Page.
Brin sees the similarities too. "It's hard to imagine a better fit with another company," Brin said during Monday's conference call. "This really reminds me of Google just a few short years ago."
The two companies even share a common financial bond: Sequoia Capital, an early Google investor that owns a roughly 30 percent stake in YouTube. Menlo Park-based Sequoia remains a major Google shareholder and retains a seat on the company's board - factors that might have helped the deal come together after just a week of negotiation.
YouTube has drawn less flattering comparisons to the original Napster, the once-popular music sharing service that was buried in an avalanche of copyright infringement lawsuits filed by incensed music companies and artists.
While most videos posted on YouTube are homemade, the site also features volumes of copyrighted material - a problem that has caused some critics to predict the start-up eventually would be sued into oblivion.
But Hurley and Chen have spent months cozying up with major media executives in an effort to convince them that YouTube could help them make more money by helping them connect with the growing number of people who spend most of their free time on the Internet.
As its negotiations with Google appeared to be near fruition, YouTube on Monday announced new partnerships with Universal Music Group, CBS Corp. and Sony BMG Music Entertainment. Those alliances followed a similar arrangement announced last month with Warner Music Group Inc.
The truce with Universal represented a particularly significant breakthrough because the world's largest record company had threatened to sue YouTube for copyright infringement less than a month ago.
While Google has been hauling away huge profits from the booming search market, it hasn't been able to become a major player in online video.
That should change now, predicted Forrester Research analyst Charlene Li. "This gives Google the video play they have been looking for and gives them a great opportunity to redefine how advertising is done," she said.
Investors applauded the possible acquisition as Google Inc. shares climbed $8.50 to close at $429 on the Nasdaq Stock Market, then added another $3.11 in extended trading.
Since the company started in Hurley's garage in February 2005, YouTube has blossomed into a cultural touchstone that shows more than 100 million video clips per day. The video library is eclectic, featuring everything from teenagers goofing off in their rooms to William Shatner singing "Rocket Man" during a 1970s TV show. Most clips are submitted by users.
YouTube's worldwide audience was 72.1 million by August, up from 2.8 million a year earlier, according to comScore Media Metrix.
Several other suitors, including Microsoft Corp., Yahoo Inc. and News Corp., reportedly have discussed a possible YouTube purchase in recent weeks.
"This deal looks pretty compelling for Google," said Standard & Poor's analyst Scott Kessler. "Google has been doing a lot of things right, but they are not sitting on their laurels."
Google's YouTube coup may intensify the pressure on Yahoo to make its own splash by buying Facebook.com, the Internet's second most popular social-networking site. Yahoo has reportedly offered as much as $1 billion for Palo Alto-based Facebook during months of sporadic talks.
"Yahoo really needs to step up and do something," said Roger Aguinaldo, an investment banker who also publishes a dealmaking newsletter called the M&A Advisor. "They are becoming less relevant and looking less innovative with each passing day."
Selling to Mountain View-based Google will give YouTube more technological muscle and advertising know-how, as well as generate a staggering windfall for a company that was running on credit card debt just 20 months ago.
To conserve money as it subsisted on $11.5 million in venture capital, YouTube had been based in an austere office above a San Mateo pizzeria until recently moving to more spacious quarters in a neighboring city.
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•
National Fuel
•
Oliver's
•
Federal Garage
•
Filippo's
ABS-CBN Interactive
N.Korea conducts nuclear test, draws world ire
SEOUL - Major world powers condemned North Korea after it said it successfully conducted a nuclear test on Monday, and called for UN-sponsored sanctions that could further impoverish the isolated communist state.
Pyongyang's chief ally China denounced the test as "brazen," and urged it to avoid action that could worsen the situation, and Russian President Vladimir Putin also condemned the test.
President Bush called Pyongyang's underground test a "provocative act" that threatened international peace and security and required an immediate response from the UN Security Council.
Monday's announcement by Pyongyang sharply escalated world concerns over North Korea's nuclear program and was a slap in the face for major regional and world powers engaged in six-party talks intended to prevent just such a test.
It delivered a sharp blow to Chinese President Hu Jintao's doctrine of using economic incentives and diplomatic coaxing to avert North Korea's drive to become a nuclear weapons state. Only seven states have acknowledged having nuclear weapons.
Britain and France said they would support sanctions. "The discussion will be on sanctions," France's UN Ambassador Jean-Marc de la Sabliere told reporters on his way into UN Security Council session. "The time has come to have a Chapter 7 resolution."
Chapter 7 makes a resolution mandatory for all UN members and allows for sanctions and even war. But the Security Council has to state specifically what kind of action members want.
The Security Council was already due to meet on Monday to officially nominate South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon as next UN secretary-general.
North Korea's announcement pushed the dollar to an eight-month high against the yen and helped shove oil above $60 a barrel. South Korea's won fell to two-month lows, but the reaction by US stocks was muted, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average off about 20 points in mid-morning trading.
Bush said North Korea had been a leading proliferator of missile technology, including transfers to Iran and Syria, and warned Pyongyang against such a transfer of nuclear weapons.
"The transfer of nuclear weapons or material by North Korea to states or non-state entities would be considered a grave threat to the United States and we would hold North Korea fully accountable for consequences of such action," he said.
Bush said he spoke by phone to leaders of China, South Korea, Japan and Russia -- the other parties involved in long-stalled negotiations with North Korea -- and all agreed that the test was unacceptable.
While stressing his commitment to diplomacy, Bush said he had told South Korea and Japan that "the United States will meet the full range of our deterrent and security commitments" in the Asia-Pacific region.
North Korea's action presented Bush and fellow Republicans a further foreign policy challenge four weeks ahead of US elections where control of the US Congress is at stake.
South Korea put its troops on heightened alert after the announcement, which came just minutes before Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe landed in Seoul for a visit.
Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said there was no leak or danger from its test.
"It marks a historic event as it greatly encouraged and pleased the KPA (Korean People's Army) and people that have wished to have powerful self-reliant defense capability."
The US Geological Survey said it had detected a 4.2 magnitude tremor in North Korea at 10:35 a.m. local time (0135 GMT). The Japan Meteorological Agency said its data showed a tremor took place around Gilju, on the peninsula's northeast coast around 70 miles from the Chinese border.
Assessing explosion's size
There was no consensus on the size of the North Korean blast.
A US official said it could take several days for intelligence analysts to determine whether the event was the result of an unsuccessful nuclear test, a small nuclear device or a non-nuclear explosion.
"In terms of yield, we have it registering at less than four on the Richter scale. That's the kind of thing that could be the result of several hundred tons of TNT, rather than a nuclear test," the official added.
Gary Gibson of Australia's Seismology Research Center put it at about one kiloton, the equivalent of 1,000 tons of TNT. Russia's RIA news agency quoted Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov as saying it ranged between 5 and 15 kilotons.
The US Air Force dropped a 12.5-kiloton bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima in 1945.
Analysts say North Korea probably has enough fissile material to make six to eight nuclear bombs but probably lacks the technology to devise one small enough to mount on a missile.
The chief of South Korea's intelligence agency told lawmakers it was possible North Korea would carry out a second test, Seoul's Yonhap news agency quoted one deputy as saying.
The United Nation's nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said Pyongyang's test threatened a global treaty to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons.
"This reported nuclear test threatens the nuclear nonproliferation regime and creates serious security challenges not only for the East Asian region but also for the international community," the IAEA said in a statement.
Seoul, Beijing and Tokyo agree Pyongyang should end its 11-month boycott of six-nation talks on ending its nuclear arms program.
Analysts said renewed talks should eventually lead to one-on-one talks between the United States and North Korea.
David Albright, a former UN weapons inspector, told CNN that despite the test, Pyongyang should be welcomed back to the talks but that US-North Korea negotiations are "not impossible down the road." Reuters
N.Korea conducts nuclear test, draws world ire
SEOUL - Major world powers condemned North Korea after it said it successfully conducted a nuclear test on Monday, and called for UN-sponsored sanctions that could further impoverish the isolated communist state.
Pyongyang's chief ally China denounced the test as "brazen," and urged it to avoid action that could worsen the situation, and Russian President Vladimir Putin also condemned the test.
President Bush called Pyongyang's underground test a "provocative act" that threatened international peace and security and required an immediate response from the UN Security Council.
Monday's announcement by Pyongyang sharply escalated world concerns over North Korea's nuclear program and was a slap in the face for major regional and world powers engaged in six-party talks intended to prevent just such a test.
It delivered a sharp blow to Chinese President Hu Jintao's doctrine of using economic incentives and diplomatic coaxing to avert North Korea's drive to become a nuclear weapons state. Only seven states have acknowledged having nuclear weapons.
Britain and France said they would support sanctions. "The discussion will be on sanctions," France's UN Ambassador Jean-Marc de la Sabliere told reporters on his way into UN Security Council session. "The time has come to have a Chapter 7 resolution."
Chapter 7 makes a resolution mandatory for all UN members and allows for sanctions and even war. But the Security Council has to state specifically what kind of action members want.
The Security Council was already due to meet on Monday to officially nominate South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon as next UN secretary-general.
North Korea's announcement pushed the dollar to an eight-month high against the yen and helped shove oil above $60 a barrel. South Korea's won fell to two-month lows, but the reaction by US stocks was muted, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average off about 20 points in mid-morning trading.
Bush said North Korea had been a leading proliferator of missile technology, including transfers to Iran and Syria, and warned Pyongyang against such a transfer of nuclear weapons.
"The transfer of nuclear weapons or material by North Korea to states or non-state entities would be considered a grave threat to the United States and we would hold North Korea fully accountable for consequences of such action," he said.
Bush said he spoke by phone to leaders of China, South Korea, Japan and Russia -- the other parties involved in long-stalled negotiations with North Korea -- and all agreed that the test was unacceptable.
While stressing his commitment to diplomacy, Bush said he had told South Korea and Japan that "the United States will meet the full range of our deterrent and security commitments" in the Asia-Pacific region.
North Korea's action presented Bush and fellow Republicans a further foreign policy challenge four weeks ahead of US elections where control of the US Congress is at stake.
South Korea put its troops on heightened alert after the announcement, which came just minutes before Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe landed in Seoul for a visit.
Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said there was no leak or danger from its test.
"It marks a historic event as it greatly encouraged and pleased the KPA (Korean People's Army) and people that have wished to have powerful self-reliant defense capability."
The US Geological Survey said it had detected a 4.2 magnitude tremor in North Korea at 10:35 a.m. local time (0135 GMT). The Japan Meteorological Agency said its data showed a tremor took place around Gilju, on the peninsula's northeast coast around 70 miles from the Chinese border.
Assessing explosion's size
There was no consensus on the size of the North Korean blast.
A US official said it could take several days for intelligence analysts to determine whether the event was the result of an unsuccessful nuclear test, a small nuclear device or a non-nuclear explosion.
"In terms of yield, we have it registering at less than four on the Richter scale. That's the kind of thing that could be the result of several hundred tons of TNT, rather than a nuclear test," the official added.
Gary Gibson of Australia's Seismology Research Center put it at about one kiloton, the equivalent of 1,000 tons of TNT. Russia's RIA news agency quoted Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov as saying it ranged between 5 and 15 kilotons.
The US Air Force dropped a 12.5-kiloton bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima in 1945.
Analysts say North Korea probably has enough fissile material to make six to eight nuclear bombs but probably lacks the technology to devise one small enough to mount on a missile.
The chief of South Korea's intelligence agency told lawmakers it was possible North Korea would carry out a second test, Seoul's Yonhap news agency quoted one deputy as saying.
The United Nation's nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said Pyongyang's test threatened a global treaty to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons.
"This reported nuclear test threatens the nuclear nonproliferation regime and creates serious security challenges not only for the East Asian region but also for the international community," the IAEA said in a statement.
Seoul, Beijing and Tokyo agree Pyongyang should end its 11-month boycott of six-nation talks on ending its nuclear arms program.
Analysts said renewed talks should eventually lead to one-on-one talks between the United States and North Korea.
David Albright, a former UN weapons inspector, told CNN that despite the test, Pyongyang should be welcomed back to the talks but that US-North Korea negotiations are "not impossible down the road." Reuters
Japanese PM concludes first official visit to China
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-10-09 09:11
BEIJING -- Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe left here Monday morning, concluding his two-day official visit to China, his first foreign trip after taking office.
Chinese President Hu Jintao (R) talks with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Beijing, capital of China, Oct. 8, 2006. [Xinhua]
During his stay in Beijing, Abe met or held talks with Chinese President Hu Jintao, top legislator Wu Bangguo and Premier Wen Jiabao. The two sides also issued a joint press communique.
Abe, who took office on September 26, was also the first Japanese leader to visit China in five years as top-level visits had been halted because of his predecessor Junichiro Koizumi's repeated visits to the Yasukuni Shrine, where 14 class-A war criminals in World War II are honored along with Japan's war dead.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao invited Abe to visit China on the premise that "China and Japan reached a consensus on overcoming the political obstacle affecting bilateral relationship and promoting friendly and cooperative relationship," according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry.
Japanese PM concludes first official visit to China
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-10-09 09:11
BEIJING -- Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe left here Monday morning, concluding his two-day official visit to China, his first foreign trip after taking office.
Chinese President Hu Jintao (R) talks with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Beijing, capital of China, Oct. 8, 2006. [Xinhua]
During his stay in Beijing, Abe met or held talks with Chinese President Hu Jintao, top legislator Wu Bangguo and Premier Wen Jiabao. The two sides also issued a joint press communique.
Abe, who took office on September 26, was also the first Japanese leader to visit China in five years as top-level visits had been halted because of his predecessor Junichiro Koizumi's repeated visits to the Yasukuni Shrine, where 14 class-A war criminals in World War II are honored along with Japan's war dead.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao invited Abe to visit China on the premise that "China and Japan reached a consensus on overcoming the political obstacle affecting bilateral relationship and promoting friendly and cooperative relationship," according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry.
Japanese PM concludes first official visit to China
ゴルフにも夢中になってるがなかなか上達しない。兎に角、早く７２のパープレイかそのうちにエッジシューターを達成するぞと目標立てて、時間あれば練習に励んでいる。スポーツジムも毎日通っている。家内は結構毎日テニスやら友達との飲む会でわいわい談笑することで浮き浮きしている。たまには旅行やゴルフと楽しんでいるようで結構謳歌しているようで心配することない。健康でもあり有難いことである。千葉県にはスチュアーデスをしていた娘がいる。すでに結婚してかわいい子供（我々の孫で勇輝という）がおり、かなり頻繁に孫と遊びに来てくれる。たまには、テレビ会社に務める仕事で忙しいハズバンドも、一緒に着てくれる。年に２－３回は家内と海外特にアメリカへ旅をする。特にこれといって観光を楽しむわけでもないが、２回の勤めで１６年ほど仕事をし、生活したこともあり、帰郷するような気分で、アメリカに滞在し生活すると結構心が楽になる。。アメリカには息子が住んでいるいるので、アメリカに帰ると落ち着く。いつも息子の所に行くわけでもなく、フロリダやラスベガスに行くこともある。アメリカでの事業経営は、自分で投資したわけではないが自分が投資家に買収投資を薦め、買収交渉からすべて任され自らの事業の如くオーナー気分で寝食忘れ夢中に取り組んだ。かなりの投資（１００億円）をしたが残念ながら事業環境が悪化して、志半ばして不成功に終わった。投資化には迷惑をかけた。６年前に帰国しすさんだ心をチャージしているうちにうちに瞬く間に６年が過ぎ去った。私のバッテリーは間違いなくチャージされたが、今までの仕事があまりにもチャレンジングで会ったこともあり、つまらない仕事ではやらないほうがましだ。２回ほど経営コンサルタントとして短期的に経営指導を請け負った。今はそんな仕事もない。それじゃーさあ何をしようか。残された人生は寿命的には２０年以上ぐらいはあるかもしれないが、心も体も元気なのはそんれほどない。この６年間色々やったが、毎日をうきうきすることがない。何かないだろうか。若い頃、独身時代には、仕事帰りに、スナックバーに立ち寄り、酒を飲みながら、流れるジャズのリヅムを聞きながら、バーテンダーと何気ない話をするだけで楽しかった。そこにいる、ちょっとかわいい女の子の笑顔が今も忘れられない。明日もこようと、毎晩通ったものだ。
最近、家で時間を忘れるぐらい楽しくなることを見つけた。酒を飲みながら音楽を聴きながら、google Newsで世界のニュースを手当たり次第に読んだり、たまにはブログを投稿する。ネットサーフィングも楽しい。
音楽は、ituneをつかってジャズ、クラシック、昔のエルビス、やドリスデイのポップ、今流行のNora Jones,Mickel Bubule,たまには美空ひりや裕次郎、北島三郎などなど演歌も。
イヤホーンからのステレオを聞く。まさに、独身時代のスナックの気分である。
たまには、チャップリンの映画を観るのもよい。ＩＴ時代文明の機器を使わないと損だ。時代遅れになる。これがＩＴ時代の年寄りの楽しみ方であるとおもう。酒と音楽、世界へのＮｅｔ surfingである。年寄りたちよ、Desital Devide（デジタル偏差）を克服せよ。ipodでＣＮＮやＡＢＣ、日経ニュース、森永卓郎の話のodcastingを車で楽しむのもよろしかろう。家にいながらにして、世界中の出来事や音楽を楽しめる。Ｂｕｓｈの演説やインタビューも。たまには囲碁やゲームも。それに酒があれば更に楽しくなる。このごろは、心浮き浮きで毎日が楽しくなった。
最近、家で時間を忘れるぐらい楽しくなることを見つけた。酒を飲みながら音楽を聴きながら、google Newsで世界のニュースを手当たり次第に読んだり、たまにはブログを投稿する。ネットサーフィングも楽しい。
音楽は、ituneをつかってジャズ、クラシック、昔のエルビス、やドリスデイのポップ、今流行のNora Jones,Mickel Bubule,たまには美空ひりや裕次郎、北島三郎などなど演歌も。
イヤホーンからのステレオを聞く。まさに、独身時代のスナックの気分である。
たまには、チャップリンの映画を観るのもよい。ＩＴ時代文明の機器を使わないと損だ。時代遅れになる。これがＩＴ時代の年寄りの楽しみ方であるとおもう。酒と音楽、世界へのＮｅｔ surfingである。年寄りたちよ、Desital Devide（デジタル偏差）を克服せよ。ipodでＣＮＮやＡＢＣ、日経ニュース、森永卓郎の話のodcastingを車で楽しむのもよろしかろう。家にいながらにして、世界中の出来事や音楽を楽しめる。Ｂｕｓｈの演説やインタビューも。たまには囲碁やゲームも。それに酒があれば更に楽しくなる。このごろは、心浮き浮きで毎日が楽しくなった。
最近、楽しくて楽しくて時間を忘れるぐらい楽しいことを見つけた。今もそのことをしながら、このブログを書いているのである。若い頃のスナックバーでの心地よい楽しみよりもさらに高度に楽しんでいるのである。
日本酒、もちろんワイン、焼酎、ウィスキー何でもその時々の好むものをグラスでかたむけながら、
日本酒、もちろんワイン、焼酎、ウィスキー何でもその時々の好むものをグラスでかたむけながら、
Why Women Live Longer than Men
By William J. Cromie
Gazette Staff
Studying people who live 100 years and more leads Harvard researchers to conclude that menopause is a major determinant of the life spans of both women and men.
Women's life span depends on the balance of two forces, according to Thomas Perls, a geriatrician at Harvard Medical School. One is the evolutionary drive to pass on her genes, the other is the need to stay healthy enough to rear as many children as possible. "Menopause draws the line between the two," Perls says. It protects older women from the risks of bearing children late in life, and lets them live long enough to take care of their children and grandchildren.
As for men, Perls believes "their purpose is simply to carry genes that ensure longevity and pass them on to their daughters. Thus, female longevity becomes the force that determines the natural life span of both men and women."
"Most animals do not undergo menopause," adds Ruth Fretts, an obstetrician-gynecologist at Harvard-affiliated Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. "It seems that menopause evolved in part as a response to the amount of time that the young remain dependent on adults to ensure their survival."
Pilot whales, for example, suckle their young until age 14, and they, along with humans, are two of the few species that menstruate.
Human females eventually become so frail that bearing children involves a high risk of death. Earlier in evolution, that was as young as 35 to 40 years old. "Anyone who developed a genetic alteration that caused infertility, i.e., menopause, obtained a survival advantage over females who continued to be fertile and died bearing children," Perls says.
The Gender Gap
This reasoning, however, does not explain why women live so much longer than men. "In all developed countries and most undeveloped ones, women outlive men, sometimes by a margin of 10 years," Perls and Fretts note. "In the U.S., average life expectancy at birth is about 79 years for women and about 72 years for men."
The gender gap is most pronounced in those who live 100 years or more. Among centenarians worldwide, women outnumber males nine to one. Perls and Fretts are studying all centenarians from eight cities and towns around Boston, 100 people in all. Eighty-five are women.
The mortality gap varies during other stages of life. Between ages 15 and 24 years, men are four to five times more likely to die than women. This time frame coincides with the onset of puberty and an increase in reckless and violent behavior in males. Researchers refer to it as a "testosterone storm." Most deaths in this male group come from motor vehicle accidents, followed by homicide, suicide, cancer, and drownings.
After age 24, the difference between male and female mortality narrows until late middle age. In the 55- to 64-year-old range, more men than women die, due mainly to heart disease, suicide, car accidents, and illnesses related to smoking and alcohol use. Heart disease kills five of every 1,000 men in this age group.
"It seems likely that women have been outliving men for centuries and perhaps longer," say Perls and Fretts. Even with the sizable risk conferred by childbirth, women have outsurvived men at least since the 1500s. Although, in the United States between 1900 and the 1930s, the death risk for women of childbearing age was as high as that for men. Since then, improved health care, particularly in childbirth, has put women ahead of men again in the survival struggle, as well as raising life expectancy for both sexes.
A longer life doesn't necessarily mean a healthier life, however. While men succumb to fatal illnesses like heart disease, stroke, and cancer, women live on with non-fatal conditions such as arthritis, osteoporosis, and diabetes. "While men die from their diseases, women live with them," Perls comments.
One contributor to the gender difference in life span is the influence of sex hormones. The male hormone testosterone not only increases aggressive and competitive behavior in young men, it increases levels of harmful cholesterol (low-density lipoprotein), raising a male's chances of getting heart disease or stroke.
On the other hand, the female hormone estrogen lowers harmful cholesterol and raises "good" cholesterol (high-density lipoprotein). Emerging evidence suggests estrogen treatment after menopause reduces the risk of dying from heart disease and stroke, as well as of dying in general.
Perls and Fretts believe that longer life means survival of the fittest, and women, evolutionarily speaking, are more fit than men. The longer a woman lives and the more slowly she ages, the more offspring she can produce and rear to adulthood. Therefore, evolution would naturally select the genes of such women over those who die young.
Long-lived men would also have an evolutionary advantage over their shorter-lived brethren. However, says Perls, "studies of chimps, gorillas, and other species closely related to humans suggest that a male's reproductive capacity is actually limited more by access to females than by life span. And because men have not been involved in child care as much as females, survival of a man's offspring, and thus his genes, depended not so much on how long he lived, but on how long the mother of his children lived."
In their studies of centenarians, Perls and Fretts found that a surprising number of women who lived to be 100 or more gave birth in their forties. These 100-year-old women were four times as likely to have given birth in their forties as women born in the same year who died at age 73. A study of centenarians in Europe by the Max Planck Institute of Demography in Germany found the same relationship between longevity and fecundity.
This does not mean that having a child in middle age makes a woman live longer. Rather, Perls says, "the factors that allow certain older women to bear children -- a slow rate of aging and decreased susceptibility to disease -- also improve a woman's chances of living a long time. Extending that idea, we argue that the driving force of human life span is maximizing the time during which woman can bear children. The age at which menopause eliminates the threat of female survival by ending further reproduction may therefore be the determinant of subsequent life span."
Closing the Gap
If this is true, then the genes of female centenarians hold the secrets of a longer, healthier life. And these are no ordinary genes. Whether the average person drinks, smokes, exercises, or eats her vegetables adds or subtracts five to ten years to or from her life. But to live an additional 30 years requires the kind of genes that slow down aging and reduce susceptibility to conditions such as Alzheimer's disease, stroke, heart disease, and cancer.
Clues about what those genes are and how they work could come from studying those who survive 100 years or more, Perls believes. The New England Centenarian Study he runs is the only scientific investigation of the oldest oldsters being done in the United States. He has now expanded it to include all centenarians in the city of Boston, about 100 more people.
"We think that centenarians are a tremendous resource for the discovery of genes responsible for aging and the ways in which aging occurs," says Perls. "Finding these genes could lead to testing people and determining who might be disposed to accelerated aging via diseases such as Alzheimer's, cancer, heart disease, and stroke. Such individuals might eventually be treated to extend the prospect of their living longer."
The oldest person for which reliable records exist was a woman who recently died in France at the age of 123. "Reaching such an age is like winning the lottery," Perls comments. "The odds are about one in 6 billion. From a practical point of view, we can consider 100 years as the average maximum of human life. We're not there yet, of course. At present, average life expectancy for those born after 1960 is about 85 years."
Although women can expect to live longer than men, the gap is closing. Death rates have begun to converge in the past 20 years. Some researchers attribute the convergence to women taking on the behaviors and stresses formerly considered the domain of males -- smoking, drinking, and working outside the home.
For example, Perls and Fretts point out that deaths from lung cancer have almost tripled in women in the past 20 years. One study concluded that, on average, middle-aged female smokers live no longer than male smokers.
"Smoking," Perls and Fretts conclude, "seems to be the 'great equalizer.'"
By William J. Cromie
Gazette Staff
Studying people who live 100 years and more leads Harvard researchers to conclude that menopause is a major determinant of the life spans of both women and men.
Women's life span depends on the balance of two forces, according to Thomas Perls, a geriatrician at Harvard Medical School. One is the evolutionary drive to pass on her genes, the other is the need to stay healthy enough to rear as many children as possible. "Menopause draws the line between the two," Perls says. It protects older women from the risks of bearing children late in life, and lets them live long enough to take care of their children and grandchildren.
As for men, Perls believes "their purpose is simply to carry genes that ensure longevity and pass them on to their daughters. Thus, female longevity becomes the force that determines the natural life span of both men and women."
"Most animals do not undergo menopause," adds Ruth Fretts, an obstetrician-gynecologist at Harvard-affiliated Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. "It seems that menopause evolved in part as a response to the amount of time that the young remain dependent on adults to ensure their survival."
Pilot whales, for example, suckle their young until age 14, and they, along with humans, are two of the few species that menstruate.
Human females eventually become so frail that bearing children involves a high risk of death. Earlier in evolution, that was as young as 35 to 40 years old. "Anyone who developed a genetic alteration that caused infertility, i.e., menopause, obtained a survival advantage over females who continued to be fertile and died bearing children," Perls says.
The Gender Gap
This reasoning, however, does not explain why women live so much longer than men. "In all developed countries and most undeveloped ones, women outlive men, sometimes by a margin of 10 years," Perls and Fretts note. "In the U.S., average life expectancy at birth is about 79 years for women and about 72 years for men."
The gender gap is most pronounced in those who live 100 years or more. Among centenarians worldwide, women outnumber males nine to one. Perls and Fretts are studying all centenarians from eight cities and towns around Boston, 100 people in all. Eighty-five are women.
The mortality gap varies during other stages of life. Between ages 15 and 24 years, men are four to five times more likely to die than women. This time frame coincides with the onset of puberty and an increase in reckless and violent behavior in males. Researchers refer to it as a "testosterone storm." Most deaths in this male group come from motor vehicle accidents, followed by homicide, suicide, cancer, and drownings.
After age 24, the difference between male and female mortality narrows until late middle age. In the 55- to 64-year-old range, more men than women die, due mainly to heart disease, suicide, car accidents, and illnesses related to smoking and alcohol use. Heart disease kills five of every 1,000 men in this age group.
"It seems likely that women have been outliving men for centuries and perhaps longer," say Perls and Fretts. Even with the sizable risk conferred by childbirth, women have outsurvived men at least since the 1500s. Although, in the United States between 1900 and the 1930s, the death risk for women of childbearing age was as high as that for men. Since then, improved health care, particularly in childbirth, has put women ahead of men again in the survival struggle, as well as raising life expectancy for both sexes.
A longer life doesn't necessarily mean a healthier life, however. While men succumb to fatal illnesses like heart disease, stroke, and cancer, women live on with non-fatal conditions such as arthritis, osteoporosis, and diabetes. "While men die from their diseases, women live with them," Perls comments.
One contributor to the gender difference in life span is the influence of sex hormones. The male hormone testosterone not only increases aggressive and competitive behavior in young men, it increases levels of harmful cholesterol (low-density lipoprotein), raising a male's chances of getting heart disease or stroke.
On the other hand, the female hormone estrogen lowers harmful cholesterol and raises "good" cholesterol (high-density lipoprotein). Emerging evidence suggests estrogen treatment after menopause reduces the risk of dying from heart disease and stroke, as well as of dying in general.
Perls and Fretts believe that longer life means survival of the fittest, and women, evolutionarily speaking, are more fit than men. The longer a woman lives and the more slowly she ages, the more offspring she can produce and rear to adulthood. Therefore, evolution would naturally select the genes of such women over those who die young.
Long-lived men would also have an evolutionary advantage over their shorter-lived brethren. However, says Perls, "studies of chimps, gorillas, and other species closely related to humans suggest that a male's reproductive capacity is actually limited more by access to females than by life span. And because men have not been involved in child care as much as females, survival of a man's offspring, and thus his genes, depended not so much on how long he lived, but on how long the mother of his children lived."
In their studies of centenarians, Perls and Fretts found that a surprising number of women who lived to be 100 or more gave birth in their forties. These 100-year-old women were four times as likely to have given birth in their forties as women born in the same year who died at age 73. A study of centenarians in Europe by the Max Planck Institute of Demography in Germany found the same relationship between longevity and fecundity.
This does not mean that having a child in middle age makes a woman live longer. Rather, Perls says, "the factors that allow certain older women to bear children -- a slow rate of aging and decreased susceptibility to disease -- also improve a woman's chances of living a long time. Extending that idea, we argue that the driving force of human life span is maximizing the time during which woman can bear children. The age at which menopause eliminates the threat of female survival by ending further reproduction may therefore be the determinant of subsequent life span."
Closing the Gap
If this is true, then the genes of female centenarians hold the secrets of a longer, healthier life. And these are no ordinary genes. Whether the average person drinks, smokes, exercises, or eats her vegetables adds or subtracts five to ten years to or from her life. But to live an additional 30 years requires the kind of genes that slow down aging and reduce susceptibility to conditions such as Alzheimer's disease, stroke, heart disease, and cancer.
Clues about what those genes are and how they work could come from studying those who survive 100 years or more, Perls believes. The New England Centenarian Study he runs is the only scientific investigation of the oldest oldsters being done in the United States. He has now expanded it to include all centenarians in the city of Boston, about 100 more people.
"We think that centenarians are a tremendous resource for the discovery of genes responsible for aging and the ways in which aging occurs," says Perls. "Finding these genes could lead to testing people and determining who might be disposed to accelerated aging via diseases such as Alzheimer's, cancer, heart disease, and stroke. Such individuals might eventually be treated to extend the prospect of their living longer."
The oldest person for which reliable records exist was a woman who recently died in France at the age of 123. "Reaching such an age is like winning the lottery," Perls comments. "The odds are about one in 6 billion. From a practical point of view, we can consider 100 years as the average maximum of human life. We're not there yet, of course. At present, average life expectancy for those born after 1960 is about 85 years."
Although women can expect to live longer than men, the gap is closing. Death rates have begun to converge in the past 20 years. Some researchers attribute the convergence to women taking on the behaviors and stresses formerly considered the domain of males -- smoking, drinking, and working outside the home.
For example, Perls and Fretts point out that deaths from lung cancer have almost tripled in women in the past 20 years. One study concluded that, on average, middle-aged female smokers live no longer than male smokers.
"Smoking," Perls and Fretts conclude, "seems to be the 'great equalizer.'"
Support for Koizumi’s heir hides weak spots
By David Pilling
Published: September 26 2006 17:21 | Last updated: September 26 2006 17:21
The ease with which Shinzo Abe has waltzed into the job of leader of the world’s second-largest economy has been breathtaking – and a little misleading. For weeks, everyone in Japan has known that the ruling Liberal Democratic party would name him to succeed Junichiro Koizumi as party president and, thus, prime minister.
After being duly confirmed as Japan’s youngest postwar leader by parliament, Mr Abe yesterday swiftly moved to appoint a cabinet in his own image, filled with friends and ideological fellow-travellers.
Yet the apparent strength of his position hides weaknesses. One of the weak spots, according to many political analysts, is that the relatively inexperienced 52-year-old does not hold the same sway over the party as his predecessor.
Mr Koizumi gained his strength from being an outsider, sweeping to victory during a time of economic crisis. He threatened the party with destruction if it did not snap into line. Mr Abe, by contrast, is more beholden to the LDP, elements of which would like to revert to life before Koizumi.
Although Mr Abe has become LDP president mainly thanks to his popular support, his power base could quickly evaporate, say political insiders, if he cannot deliver a respectable result in very difficult upper house elections next summer.
Gerald Curtis, a Japan expert at Columbia university, says Mr Abe’s virtual anointment as prime minister means he has never had to spell out his policy convictions. That leaves him vulnerable to bickering over such divisive issues as spending priorities, regional rejuvenation and ending chronic budget deficits.
Mr Abe’s election policy document, a flimsy booklet of barely three pages, was a fraction of the length of that put out by one of his unsuccessful challengers, Sadakazu Tanigaki, the former finance minister (unceremoniously dispatched yesterday) whose detailed proposals, especially on fiscal reconstruction, ran to screeds.
Mr Abe won the backing of 67 per cent of LDP delegates. That sounds high, but it was less than the 70 per cent he was hoping for. Many party members, analysts say, voted for him less out of a sense of affinity and more because of a bandwagon effect. They wanted to back the winner – and some of them were duly rewarded yesterday for their wise choice. Such support is by nature fickle.
The third that voted against include members worried at his hawkish foreign policy credentials and those suspicious of his economic stance. Some worry he is too closely associated with “free market capitalism”, now the subject of a mini-backlash, others that he lacks the guts to mend Japan’s finances, particularly if it involves raising taxes.
Mr Abe, who has a three-year mandate as LDP president, appears to have plenty of time to work things out. The economic background could hardly be more favourable, with the near-five-year recovery soon to become the longest since the war.
Yet, in reality, time is short. “The upper house election is undoubtedly his biggest challenge,” says Prof Curtis, who adds he may have to quit if his party fares badly. Mr Abe, he says, cannot hope to emulate Mr Koizumi’s style, “so he has to focus on substance, on specific policy goals. And he’s going to have to scramble pretty quickly or the public and the media are going to turn against him.”
The problem is that Mr Abe’s strongest policy convictions on diplomacy, constitutional and educational reform are not the ones that most stir Japan’s electorate. Polls suggest that top of people’s priority list are fixing the social security system, mending Japan’s finances and eradicating perceived inequalities. These are precisely the areas where Mr Abe’s policies are most sketchy.
Yesterday’s cabinet appointments did not do much to fill in the gaps. The three main economic portfolios went to relative unknowns. Koji Omi, 73, the new finance minister, is thought to sympathise with the finance ministry view that taxes must rise and soon.
Yesterday, however, he showed his loyalty to Mr Abe by saying the matter would not be discussed until next summer’s elections were safely out of the way.
The potential for this issue to flare up was underscored when Mr Tanigaki departed with harsh words for the incoming administration, saying it needed to pursue fiscal reform if the markets were not to get spooked and interest rates to soar.
Another potential area of party friction is what to do about a perceived widening of the income gap. Mr Abe appointed Yuji Yamamoto as minister with special responsibility for “re-challenge”, his programme for tackling inequalities.
Some in the LDP would like Mr Abe to throw money at the problem. Others want him to continue with Mr Koizumi’s cuts and take the public along with him by force of will.
Mr Abe, best known for his strong views on diplomacy, could find the battle for his premiership is fought on economic terrain.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2006
By David Pilling
Published: September 26 2006 17:21 | Last updated: September 26 2006 17:21
The ease with which Shinzo Abe has waltzed into the job of leader of the world’s second-largest economy has been breathtaking – and a little misleading. For weeks, everyone in Japan has known that the ruling Liberal Democratic party would name him to succeed Junichiro Koizumi as party president and, thus, prime minister.
After being duly confirmed as Japan’s youngest postwar leader by parliament, Mr Abe yesterday swiftly moved to appoint a cabinet in his own image, filled with friends and ideological fellow-travellers.
Yet the apparent strength of his position hides weaknesses. One of the weak spots, according to many political analysts, is that the relatively inexperienced 52-year-old does not hold the same sway over the party as his predecessor.
Mr Koizumi gained his strength from being an outsider, sweeping to victory during a time of economic crisis. He threatened the party with destruction if it did not snap into line. Mr Abe, by contrast, is more beholden to the LDP, elements of which would like to revert to life before Koizumi.
Although Mr Abe has become LDP president mainly thanks to his popular support, his power base could quickly evaporate, say political insiders, if he cannot deliver a respectable result in very difficult upper house elections next summer.
Gerald Curtis, a Japan expert at Columbia university, says Mr Abe’s virtual anointment as prime minister means he has never had to spell out his policy convictions. That leaves him vulnerable to bickering over such divisive issues as spending priorities, regional rejuvenation and ending chronic budget deficits.
Mr Abe’s election policy document, a flimsy booklet of barely three pages, was a fraction of the length of that put out by one of his unsuccessful challengers, Sadakazu Tanigaki, the former finance minister (unceremoniously dispatched yesterday) whose detailed proposals, especially on fiscal reconstruction, ran to screeds.
Mr Abe won the backing of 67 per cent of LDP delegates. That sounds high, but it was less than the 70 per cent he was hoping for. Many party members, analysts say, voted for him less out of a sense of affinity and more because of a bandwagon effect. They wanted to back the winner – and some of them were duly rewarded yesterday for their wise choice. Such support is by nature fickle.
The third that voted against include members worried at his hawkish foreign policy credentials and those suspicious of his economic stance. Some worry he is too closely associated with “free market capitalism”, now the subject of a mini-backlash, others that he lacks the guts to mend Japan’s finances, particularly if it involves raising taxes.
Mr Abe, who has a three-year mandate as LDP president, appears to have plenty of time to work things out. The economic background could hardly be more favourable, with the near-five-year recovery soon to become the longest since the war.
Yet, in reality, time is short. “The upper house election is undoubtedly his biggest challenge,” says Prof Curtis, who adds he may have to quit if his party fares badly. Mr Abe, he says, cannot hope to emulate Mr Koizumi’s style, “so he has to focus on substance, on specific policy goals. And he’s going to have to scramble pretty quickly or the public and the media are going to turn against him.”
The problem is that Mr Abe’s strongest policy convictions on diplomacy, constitutional and educational reform are not the ones that most stir Japan’s electorate. Polls suggest that top of people’s priority list are fixing the social security system, mending Japan’s finances and eradicating perceived inequalities. These are precisely the areas where Mr Abe’s policies are most sketchy.
Yesterday’s cabinet appointments did not do much to fill in the gaps. The three main economic portfolios went to relative unknowns. Koji Omi, 73, the new finance minister, is thought to sympathise with the finance ministry view that taxes must rise and soon.
Yesterday, however, he showed his loyalty to Mr Abe by saying the matter would not be discussed until next summer’s elections were safely out of the way.
The potential for this issue to flare up was underscored when Mr Tanigaki departed with harsh words for the incoming administration, saying it needed to pursue fiscal reform if the markets were not to get spooked and interest rates to soar.
Another potential area of party friction is what to do about a perceived widening of the income gap. Mr Abe appointed Yuji Yamamoto as minister with special responsibility for “re-challenge”, his programme for tackling inequalities.
Some in the LDP would like Mr Abe to throw money at the problem. Others want him to continue with Mr Koizumi’s cuts and take the public along with him by force of will.
Mr Abe, best known for his strong views on diplomacy, could find the battle for his premiership is fought on economic terrain.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2006
ふくいの健康長寿の謎解き
（１） 「福井の食生活」は長寿のみなもと
米を中心としたバランスの良い食事がこの20年間（昭和55年から平成11年）維持されてきました。
三大栄養素である「たんぱく質」、「炭水化物」、「脂肪」のバランスがとれています。
お米（米類）の摂取量は全国で一番多くなっています。（一人当たりの米類の摂取量は1日あたり209gとなっています。）
福井県の96歳以上の自立した高齢者を調査した研究では、好き嫌いなく食べることが共通した傾向として明らかになっています。
平均寿命の延びとお米の摂取量については一定の関係がありそうです。
脂肪の摂取量、質ともにバランス良く、全国に比べ豆類や魚類から摂取する比率が高くなっています。
脂肪からとるエネルギーは全国より若干低くなっています。
大豆製品を含む豆類やいも類を好み、比較的カリウムの摂取量が多くなっています。
豆類やいも類の摂取量は多い方です。（豆類は1日あたり88g、いも類は1日あたり92gとなっています。）
福井県に伝わる伝承料理には、豆類、いも類などがよく使われています。
高血圧を予防するには減塩のほかカリウムの摂取が重要で、カリウムの摂取量は全国値より1日あたり約500mg多くなっています。
福井の食事は塩分控えめです。
塩分の摂取量は、全国では低い方です。（1日あたりの塩分摂取量は12.8gです。ただし、適切な摂取量は10g未満です。）
（２） 福井県民は働き者でボランティア活動が盛ん
福井の女性は働き者です。
月間平均実労働時間は177時間で、全国1位です。
二次活動（家庭や社会の一員として行う義務的な活動）の平均時間は9時間で全国3位です。（全国値は8時間31分です。）
高齢になっても働く人が多く、ボランティア活動も盛んです。
65歳以上の有職者の割合が高い方です。（26.4%で全国8位です。）
ボランティア活動の年間行動者率は高い方です。（36.6%で全国5位です。）
平均寿命の延びとボランティア行動者率については、一定の関係がありそうです。
（３） 家庭と地域で育む心穏やかな長寿の気風
祖先や家族を大切にする県民の気風・気質があり、地域交流も盛んなところです。
家の祖先には強い心のつながりを感じる人の割合が高い方です。（64.3%で全国6位です。）
人口当たりの寺院や神社の数が多い方です。（どちらも全国2位です。）
「お講」が地域のつながりを強めてきました。
つきあい費や交際費などが高く、人とのつきあいを重視しています。（つきあい費は全国4位、交際費は全国3位です。）
三世代で暮らす家族が多く、にぎやかな環境があります。
三世代世帯の割合が高く、核家族世帯の割合や単独世帯の割合が低くなっています。（三世代世帯割合は全国2位です。）
離婚率は全国で43位となっており、平均寿命の延びと離婚率については、一定の負の関係がありそうです。
広い家を持っている人が多く、住みやすい環境になっています。
持ち家比率が高く、また持ち家住宅の延べ面積が大きくなっています。（持ち家比率は全国5位、持ち家住宅の延べ面積は全国2位です。）
（４） 保健と医療と福祉が支える長寿
保健活動や健康づくりが推進されてきました。
福井県独自の保健事業や介護予防事業を継続的に実施してきました。
医療施設や福祉施設の整備が進んでいます。
人口当たりの病院数は多い方です。（人口10万人当たり11.2で全国9位です。）
介護保険施設病床数は多い方です。（65歳以上人口10万人当たり3991で全国5位です。）
旧経済企画庁が発表していた国民生活指標で、「癒す（医療、保健、福祉サービス等の状況）」という生活領域で全国1位となっています。
（５） 心の健康を支える経済的ゆとり
経済的ゆとりを求める県民の気風・気質があります。
県民所得は全国並みですが、貯蓄や生命保険金額が高い方で不測の事態に備える県民の気風・気質がうかがえます。（1世帯当たりの貯蓄は18,180千円で全国1位です。）
「将来・老後の収入」や「収入・家計・借金」でストレスを感じている人の割合が低い方です。
全国に先駆けた水田の圃場整備により農村生活が豊かになりました。
農家世帯の家計費は高い方です。（1世帯当たり1ヶ月間55万8千円で全国3位です。）
（１） 「福井の食生活」は長寿のみなもと
米を中心としたバランスの良い食事がこの20年間（昭和55年から平成11年）維持されてきました。
三大栄養素である「たんぱく質」、「炭水化物」、「脂肪」のバランスがとれています。
お米（米類）の摂取量は全国で一番多くなっています。（一人当たりの米類の摂取量は1日あたり209gとなっています。）
福井県の96歳以上の自立した高齢者を調査した研究では、好き嫌いなく食べることが共通した傾向として明らかになっています。
平均寿命の延びとお米の摂取量については一定の関係がありそうです。
脂肪の摂取量、質ともにバランス良く、全国に比べ豆類や魚類から摂取する比率が高くなっています。
脂肪からとるエネルギーは全国より若干低くなっています。
大豆製品を含む豆類やいも類を好み、比較的カリウムの摂取量が多くなっています。
豆類やいも類の摂取量は多い方です。（豆類は1日あたり88g、いも類は1日あたり92gとなっています。）
福井県に伝わる伝承料理には、豆類、いも類などがよく使われています。
高血圧を予防するには減塩のほかカリウムの摂取が重要で、カリウムの摂取量は全国値より1日あたり約500mg多くなっています。
福井の食事は塩分控えめです。
塩分の摂取量は、全国では低い方です。（1日あたりの塩分摂取量は12.8gです。ただし、適切な摂取量は10g未満です。）
（２） 福井県民は働き者でボランティア活動が盛ん
福井の女性は働き者です。
月間平均実労働時間は177時間で、全国1位です。
二次活動（家庭や社会の一員として行う義務的な活動）の平均時間は9時間で全国3位です。（全国値は8時間31分です。）
高齢になっても働く人が多く、ボランティア活動も盛んです。
65歳以上の有職者の割合が高い方です。（26.4%で全国8位です。）
ボランティア活動の年間行動者率は高い方です。（36.6%で全国5位です。）
平均寿命の延びとボランティア行動者率については、一定の関係がありそうです。
（３） 家庭と地域で育む心穏やかな長寿の気風
祖先や家族を大切にする県民の気風・気質があり、地域交流も盛んなところです。
家の祖先には強い心のつながりを感じる人の割合が高い方です。（64.3%で全国6位です。）
人口当たりの寺院や神社の数が多い方です。（どちらも全国2位です。）
「お講」が地域のつながりを強めてきました。
つきあい費や交際費などが高く、人とのつきあいを重視しています。（つきあい費は全国4位、交際費は全国3位です。）
三世代で暮らす家族が多く、にぎやかな環境があります。
三世代世帯の割合が高く、核家族世帯の割合や単独世帯の割合が低くなっています。（三世代世帯割合は全国2位です。）
離婚率は全国で43位となっており、平均寿命の延びと離婚率については、一定の負の関係がありそうです。
広い家を持っている人が多く、住みやすい環境になっています。
持ち家比率が高く、また持ち家住宅の延べ面積が大きくなっています。（持ち家比率は全国5位、持ち家住宅の延べ面積は全国2位です。）
（４） 保健と医療と福祉が支える長寿
保健活動や健康づくりが推進されてきました。
福井県独自の保健事業や介護予防事業を継続的に実施してきました。
医療施設や福祉施設の整備が進んでいます。
人口当たりの病院数は多い方です。（人口10万人当たり11.2で全国9位です。）
介護保険施設病床数は多い方です。（65歳以上人口10万人当たり3991で全国5位です。）
旧経済企画庁が発表していた国民生活指標で、「癒す（医療、保健、福祉サービス等の状況）」という生活領域で全国1位となっています。
（５） 心の健康を支える経済的ゆとり
経済的ゆとりを求める県民の気風・気質があります。
県民所得は全国並みですが、貯蓄や生命保険金額が高い方で不測の事態に備える県民の気風・気質がうかがえます。（1世帯当たりの貯蓄は18,180千円で全国1位です。）
「将来・老後の収入」や「収入・家計・借金」でストレスを感じている人の割合が低い方です。
全国に先駆けた水田の圃場整備により農村生活が豊かになりました。
農家世帯の家計費は高い方です。（1世帯当たり1ヶ月間55万8千円で全国3位です。）
Reuters AlertNet - Two US scientists win Nobel for gene work
受賞数の多い国 順位 国 受賞数
1 アメリカ合衆国 154
2 #REDIRECTTemplate:DEU 82
3 イギリス 66
4 フランス 38
5 スイス 24
6 ロシア（ソビエト連邦） 21
7 イタリア 19
8 スウェーデン 18
8 オランダ 18
10 カナダ 14
10 デンマーク 14
10 ポーランド 14
受賞数の多い国 順位 国 受賞数
1 アメリカ合衆国 154
2 #REDIRECTTemplate:DEU 82
3 イギリス 66
4 フランス 38
5 スイス 24
6 ロシア（ソビエト連邦） 21
7 イタリア 19
8 スウェーデン 18
8 オランダ 18
10 カナダ 14
10 デンマーク 14
10 ポーランド 14