A Japanese woman listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s oldest person has died at the age of 116.
According to officials, Tomiko Itooka died at a nursing home in Ashiya City, Hyogo Prefecture.
She became the oldest person in the world after Spain’s Maria Branyas Morera passed away in August 2024 at the age of 117.
Ashiya Mayor Ryosuke Takashima (27) said in a statement, “Mr. Itooka gave us courage and hope through his longevity.”
“We are grateful to her.”
Mr. Itooka was born in May 1908, six years before World War I and the year the Ford Model T automobile was launched in the United States.
She was certified as the world’s oldest person in September 2024 and received an official GWR certificate on Respect for the Aged Day, a public holiday celebrated annually to honor older people in Japan.
Mr. Itooka, one of three siblings, lived through world wars, epidemics, and technological innovation.
She played volleyball as a student and climbed the 3,067-meter (10,062-foot) Mount Ontake twice.
In her later years, she enjoyed bananas and Calpis, a milky soft drink popular in Japan, according to a statement from the mayor.
According to Guinness, she married at age 20 and had two daughters and two sons.
During World War II, she managed her husband’s textile mill office. She lived alone in the country after her husband died in 1979.
She is survived by one son, one daughter and five grandchildren. According to officials, the funeral was held with family and friends.
As of September, there were more than 95,000 people aged 100 or older in Japan, 88% of whom were women.
Nearly one-third of the country’s population of 124 million is over 65 years old.
Brazilian nun Ina Canavaro Lucas (116 years old), who was born 16 days before Ituoka, is currently believed to be the world’s oldest person.
