Guinness World Records: Meet the world’s oldest living person aged 116
A 116-year-old Japanese woman has been given the title of the world’s oldest living person by Guinness World Records on Saturday.
Residing in a nursing home in Japan’s southwest, Kane Tanaka enjoys playing the board game Othello and studying mathematics.
In a ceremony, which took place at the nursing home, Ms Tanaka was officially bestowed the title in front of her family and the mayor.
Ms Tanaka was born on January 2, 1903 and was the seventh of eight children.
In 1922 she married Hideo Tanaka, with the pair having four children together and adopting another.
WORLD’S OLDEST PERSON: 116-year-old Kane Tanaka was honored Saturday as the world's oldest living person by Guinness World Records. She says it's been a dream of hers since she was 100 ❤️ https://t.co/NOo501hdHz pic.twitter.com/BVfxXfxhX0
— CBS News (@CBSNews) March 9, 2019
Holding the title previously was Chiyo Miyako, also from Japan. She passed away in July at the age of 117. The oldest person to break the record before Miyako was also Japanese, with the region’s healthy lifestyle contributing to their long life.
Our new oldest person living record holder Kane Tanaka (116) was given a box of chocolates as a gift today at the certificate presentation - she immediately ate them!
Later when she was asked how many chocolates she wants to eat today, she said "100" 😄🍫 https://t.co/rgrgP0JcRp pic.twitter.com/T48UWK562k— GuinnessWorldRecords (@GWR) March 9, 2019
The nation is known to consume plenty of fish, rice, vegetables and other low-fat foods, with many of the elderly remaining active into their 80s and beyond.
But despite the impressive milestone, Ms Tanaka still has a long way to go if she hopes to beat the oldest person to ever exist – French woman, Jeanne Louise Calment who was 122 years when she died.
Guinness said the world’s oldest man is currently being investigated, as the man who was previously going to be given the title passed away in January at 113.
Masazo Nonaka, also Japanese, enjoyed devouring sweets and was never seen without his trademark knit beanie.
His retirement was spent watching sumo wrestling on TV, reading the daily news and eating plenty of desserts.
According to his family, Mr Nonaka’s long life was credited to his stress-free lifestyle.
He managed to outlive all of his siblings, his wife and also three of their five children.
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