A Japanese woman recognized as the world’s oldest person, Kane Tanaka, has died at the age of 119, just months short of her goal of reaching 120.
Born on Jan. 2, 1903, Tanaka loved playing the board game Othello and had a penchant for chocolate and fizzy drinks.
She was certified by Guinness World Records as the oldest living person in 2019, when she was 116.
Photo: AP
On media occasions, she said she was still enjoying life and hoped to live until 120.
Tanaka died of old age on Tuesday last week at a hospital in Fukuoka, her hometown in southern Japan, where she spent all her life, city officials said yesterday.
With her death, the world’s oldest human is now Lucile Randon, a French nun known as Sister Andre, aged 118, the Gerontology Research Group said.
In Japan, the new record holder is a 115-year-old woman, Fusa Tatsumi, of Osaka, the Japanese Ministry of Health said.
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