World’s oldest person Tomiko Itooka dies in Japan aged 116 | Japan

A Japanese woman, the world’s oldest living person, has died at the age of 116.

Tomiko Itooka, who achieved Guinness World Record status last year, died on December 29 at a nursing home in Ashiya, Hyogo Prefecture, central Japan.

Itooka, who previously spoke of her love of bananas and a yogurt-flavored Japanese drink called Calpis, was born on May 23, 1908, six years before the outbreak of World War I, and the same year that the Ford Model T was released. commercialized. spear.

Born in Osaka, she had played volleyball in high school and was an avid mountain climber.

Yoshitsugu Nagata, policy manager for the elderly, said Itooka had twice climbed Mount Ontake, peaking at 3,067 meters (10,062 feet).

She became the oldest person on the planet last year after the death of 117-year-old Maria Branyas, according to the Gerontology Research Group (GRG).

When she was told last year that she had topped the world ranking of supercentenarians, she simply replied: “Thank you.”

Itooka received flowers, a cake and a card from the mayor to celebrate his birthday in 2024.

She married at age 20 and ran the office at her husband’s textile factory during World War II. Itooka lived alone in Nara after her husband’s death in 1979.

She is survived by a son, a daughter and five grandchildren. A funeral service was held with family and friends, according to Nagata.

The world’s oldest person is now Inah Canabarro Lucas, 116, a Brazilian nun born 16 days after Itooka, according to GRG.