A Japanese woman recognized as the world’s oldest person, Kane Tanaka, has died aged 119, months away from her goal of reaching 120
TOKYO — A Japanese woman recognized as the world’s oldest person, Kane Tanaka, has died at the age of 119, just months before her goal of reaching 120.
Born on January 2, 1903, Tanaka loved playing the board game Othello and had a fondness for chocolate and soft drinks. She was certified by Guinness World Records as the oldest person in 2019 when she was 116 years old. In the media, she said she was still enjoying life and hoped to live to be 120.
Tanaka died of old age on April 19 at a hospital in Fukuoka, her hometown in southern Japan where she spent her entire life, city officials said Tuesday. Tanaka, who had lived in a nursing home, had only been in and out of hospital recently, they said.
Fukuoka Governor Seitaro Hattori said in a statement he was shocked and saddened by his loss as he looked forward to marking Respect for the Elderly Day later this year in person with chocolate and cookies. soft drinks, because he must have missed the opportunity last year. due to the pandemic.
“I could only see her in a picture showing her with the bouquet and making a ‘peace’ sign (with her fingers), but it lifted my spirits,” Hattori said. “She gave people hope for a long, healthy life.”
With her death, the oldest human being in the world is now Lucile Randon, a French nun known as Sister André, aged 118, according to the Gerontology Research Group. In Japan, the new record holder is a 115-year-old woman, Fusa Tatsumi, from Osaka, the Japanese health ministry said.
Japan, whose population is aging and rapidly declining, had 86,510 centenarians, 90% of them women, according to the latest figures from the ministry.
ABC News