116 years old and still walking around her house, Kane Tanaka is officially the World’s oldest person.
Honored by the Guinness World Records in an official ceremony, Kane Tanaka lives in Fukuoka, Japan. Born in 1903, on January 2nd, Kane is known to love maths and is also a big time fan of Othello board game. Married to her husband Hideo Tanaka, the loving couple had 4 biological children and an adopted child, some of who were present in this extremely emotional Guinness world-record ceremony.
When interviewed during the ceremony, Kane became emotional and started crying! When asked about her favorite memory, Kane simply stated, “This right now” to BBC News. Born prematurely, Kane has lived a long life, something she would never had imagined.
Kane was born to Kumakichi and Kuma Ota, and is their seventh child. Just a four days after she turned 19, Kane was married away to Hideo, whom she had never met before. Over the years, Kane has fought several health conditions including colorectal cancer and cataract caused due to her age. But, each time she has survived these health conditions with great courage and love for life.
Despite her age, she wakes up early each day at 6 a.m. and follows her daily rituals with all her heart. She often studies her favorite subject Maths, sometime in the afternoon to keep her mind active. One of her favorite activities is to play a game of Othello. With her years of practice, she is now an expert at this superly interesting game and loves to beat all others in her home staff.
Aged 116, Kane is however 6 years shy of holding the record of being the world’s oldest person, a record held for the last 22 years by France’s Jeanne Louise Calment. Jeanne was born on the 21st of February, 1875 and passed away at the age of 122 years and 164 days on the 4th of August 1997 in a small nursing home in the city of Arles located in Southern France.
Over the years, Japan has given the world a wide number of world’s oldest people. Prior to Kane, the title was held by yet another Japanese woman named Chiyo Miyako who lived for 117 years and passed away on the 22nd July, 2018 in the city of Nishi-ku, Yokohama, Japan.
Also, the oldest man to have ever lived also hailed from Japan. Jiroemon Kimura was born on the 19th April, 1897 in Japan and passed away on 12th June 2013 at the age of 116 years and 54 days. According to the list of the world’s oldest people, almost majority of the people in the list belong to the countries Japan and France.
The secret behind Japanese people living a longer life is however unknown. But based on a few studies, it is apparently the Japanese diet, the fresh and healthy environment and culture of the country that helps people in Japan live much longer than the traditional life span of a normal human.
