Tokyo: The world’s oldest person from the southwestern Japanese city of Fukuoka died at the age of 119 on April 19, the government said on Monday.
Kane Tanaka was born on January 2 in 1903, the year Wright Brothers — Wilbur and Orville Wright — made the world’s first successful flight of powered aircraft, Japan’s Kyodo news agency reported.
Famous people born in 1903 included British novelist George Orwell, film director Yasujiro Ozu and Japanese poet Misuzu Kaneko.
According to the report, Tanaka, whose life spanned several Japanese imperial eras — Meiji, Taisho, Showa, Heisei, and Reiwa, was born just a year before the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War in 1904.
She was recognised by Guinness World Records as the world’s oldest person in March 2019 at the age of 116.
Tanaka also became the oldest person ever on record in Japan after turning 117 years and 261 days old in September 2020.
Apart from being the oldest verified Japanese person ever, Tanaka was also the second oldest verified person ever in the world.