Little girls born in Japan in 2007 have the longest life expectancy of any other people on the planet... 86 years. Though life expectancy is a complicated issue, experts say that Japanese women live so long in part because of their healthy diet and unique social structure, as well as advancements made in medical care. Boys born in Japan last year can expect to live 79.2 years, while residents of Iceland and Hong Kong aren't far behind.

The flip side of this is that Japan's birth rate is also very low, which leaves the Japanese government in a unique position -- how to run a country with an aging population without a younger population to back them up?

Still, the Japanese are definitely doing something right. About.com digs a little deeper into the hows and whys of the long life spans of Japan.