Tomiko Itooka died on December 29 at a nursing home in Ashiya, Hyogo Prefecture, central Japan.
Tomiko Itooka, the Japanese woman who according to the Guinness Book of Records was the oldest person in the world, died at the age of 116.
Yoshitsugu Nagata, an official in charge of elderly policy, said Itooka died on December 29 at a nursing home in Ashiya, Hyogo Prefecture, central Japan.
Itooka, who loved bananas and a Japanese yogurt-flavored drink called Calpis, was born on May 23, 1908. She became the oldest living person last year after the death of a 117-year-old Maria Branyasaccording to the Gerontology Research Group.
When told she topped the world’s supercentenarian rankings, she simply replied, “Thank you.”
Itooka celebrated her birthday last year with flowers, a cake and a card from the mayor.
“Mrs. Itooka gave us courage and hope with her long life,” Ashiya Mayor Ryosuke Takashima, 27, said in a statement.
“We thank her for that.”
Born in Osaka, Itooka was a volleyball player in high school and had long had a reputation for a lively spirit, Nagata said. She climbed the 3067-meter-high Ontake mountain twice.
She married at the age of 20 and had two daughters and two sons, according to Guinness.
Itooka ran the office of her husband’s textile factory during World War II. She lived alone in Nara after her husband died in 1979.
She is survived by a son and one daughter and five grandchildren. The funeral service was held with family and friends, according to Nagata.
Itooka has not only lived through world wars, but also pandemics, as well as technological breakthroughs.
Women tend to enjoy longevity in Japan, but the country is facing a worsening demographic crisis as a growing elderly population leads to huge medical and welfare costs, along with a shrinking workforce to pay for it.
According to the Gerontology Research Group, the oldest person in the world is now 116-year-old Brazilian nun Inah Canabarro Lucas, who was born 16 days after Itooka.
