The world’s oldest person dies in Japan at the age of 116 Women’s News

Tomiko Itoka died on December 29 at a nursing home in Ashiya, Hyogo Prefecture, central Japan.

Japanese Tomiko Itoka, the world’s oldest person according to the Guinness Book of World Records, has died at the age of 116.

said Yoshitsugu Nagata, who is in charge of senior citizens’ policies Itoka She died on December 29 at a nursing home in Ashiya, Hyogo Prefecture, central Japan.

Itoka, who loved bananas and the Japanese yoghurt-flavored drink called kalpis, was born on May 23, 1908. She became the oldest person last year after the elderly woman died at the age of 117. Maria Branyasaccording to the Gerontology Research Group.

When told she was at the top of the world’s rankings of super-centenarians, she simply replied: “Thank you.”

Ituka celebrated her birthday last year with flowers, cake and a card from the mayor.

“Ms. Itoka gave us courage and hope during her long life,” Ashiya Mayor Ryosuke Takashima, 27, said in the statement.

“We thank her for that.”

Itoka, who was born in Osaka, was a high school volleyball player who had long been known for his energetic spirit, Nagata said. She has climbed the 3,067 m (10,062 ft) Mount Ontake twice.

She married when she was twenty years old and gave birth to two daughters and two sons, according to Guinness.

Itoka ran her husband’s textile factory office during World War II. She lived alone in Nara after her husband died in 1979.

She leaves behind one son, one daughter and five grandchildren. A funeral service was held with family and friends, according to Nagata.

Itoka has lived through not only world wars, but also epidemics, as well as technological breakthroughs.

Women traditionally enjoy longevity in Japan, but the country faces a worsening demographic crisis as an aging population drives up the costs of medical and social care, with a shrinking workforce to bear its costs.

According to the Gerontology Research Group, the world’s oldest person is now 116-year-old Brazilian nun Ina Canabarro Lucas, who was born 16 days after Ituka.