K ARATEDO as a way of life saw the light in an archipelago at the southernmost tip of Japan: Okinawa, as reports have it, “has a population of about 1.3 million, and has 55 centenarians per 100,000 people, the highest ratio in the world.”
Meron ding ritwal ng kasunduang pangkapayapaan—smoking of the calumet or peace pipe. Kaya itinuturing na isa sa mga sagradong halaman ang tabako sa mga katutubo ng North at South America sapul nakalipas na 3,000 taon.