I grew up in Okinawa. Here's what I think the 'Blue Zones' trend has right and wrong about my home island.

I met my husband, who was in the US Air Force, when he was stationed in Okinawa along with other military members.

The younger generation is different — it's changing, and not changing in a good way. There is a sad truth about the Okinawan poverty, which is among the worst in Japan. Although we do have a healthy longevity and all of that, there are also younger kids that are struggling.

I grew up in an area where there's a little more poverty. A lot of my friends grew up in bad conditions. A lot of my girlfriends were working at a young age as hostesses and things like that.

Especially when you're a kid, it's not just your parents that are raising you, it's everybody in the community. You know everyone in the neighborhood, and they all talk and keep an eye out for you.

There were always elderly people around the island when I was growing up. Everyone lives in the same house — it's not unusual for three generations to live together.

Every year, we celebrate our ancestors in the annual Japanese Obon festival. We spend three days partying and drinking with our ancestors by their graves, inviting them into our homes before sending them back to the spirit world on the last day.

Usually, the eldest son has the responsibility to take care of the grandparents, but pretty much everyone in the family is always taking care of the elderly in their family.

The vegetables and meat here in the US don't taste the same — I don't know if it's the way they make it or grow it. I also feel like things last longer in Japan. For example, if you were to buy cucumbers in Japan, they wouldn't rot for a while, but here, a couple of days later, they get moldy.

My daily meals would typically be rice, a choice of protein, lots of vegetables, and a soup. A lot of Japanese people have okazu, which are small side dishes of different vegetables. Here in the US, it's more like, you have your carbs and protein and salad or something like that, but over there it's a lot more varied.

I feel like people don't grow up eating the same things that the older generation used to eat. I wouldn't have eaten that kind of food unless I wasn't living with my grandma for a period of time. 

When the Blue Zone documentary talked about beni imo, or purple sweet potatoes — sure, it's really popular, but it's not like you eat it every single day. It's not a huge part of your diet, unless you live in a certain area. When I was watching the documentary, I was thinking, "That's not like that all the time."

When we were younger, we'd always walk 15 to 20 minutes to school. We don't have buses for public schools.

There are also a lot of places you can walk to because it's a small island: There would always be a corner izakaya or corner store. You're usually a ten-minute walking distance to anywhere you need to go.

But if they had to walk more than 15 minutes or so nowadays, Okinawans would probably drive their car. In Tokyo or other cities, people walk more because they have public transportation, and would have to walk from station to station.

If I was having a bad day, I would go to the ocean and jump in the water and go snorkeling. But here in Massachusetts, the beaches are far away, crowded, or cold. I do want to retire back in Okinawa.