Tomiko Itooka, a Japanese woman who was recognized as the world’s oldest person by Guinness World Records, has died at the age of 116, the city’s official website said on Saturday.
Tomiko Itooka, a Japanese woman who was recognized as the world’s oldest person by Guinness World Records, has died at the age of 116, the city’s official website said on Saturday.
Tomiko Itooka, a Japanese woman who was recognized as the world’s oldest person by Guinness World Records, has died at the age of 116, the city’s official website said on Saturday.
She was born on May 23, 1908. She was known for her love of bananas and Japanese yogurt and died on December 29, said Yoshitsugu Nagata, the country’s senior policy officer for aging. She became the world’s oldest person after Maria Branyas, who died last year at the age of 117, was named the world’s oldest person by Guinness World Records.
Born in Osaka, Itooka was a volleyball player in high school and twice climbed Mount Ontake, which is over 10,000 feet high. She married at the age of 20, had two sons and two daughters, and had lived alone in Nara since her husband’s death in 1979.
At the time of her death, she was survived by a son, a daughter, and five grandchildren.
With her death, 116-year-old Brazilian singer Inah Canabarro Lucas, who was born 16 days later than her, became the oldest living person.
