Meet world's oldest person Kane Tanaka from Japan, who is 119-year-old

Kane Tanaka of Fukuoka, Japan, is the oldest person as she turns 119 years, 66 days old on March 9, 2022. Kane Tanaka has been officially recognised as the oldest person alive, aged 116 years and 66 days as on March 9, 2019. On 30 January 2019 (when she was 116 years 28 days), the supercentenarian was certified as the oldest person alive, and she was presented with her certificates for that record and for being the oldest woman living at a ceremony at her house.

Kane was born prematurely on January 2, 1903, the same year the Wright brothers first powered flight! Kane, the eighth child of Kumakichi and Kuma Ota, married Hideo Tanaka on January 6, 1922, four days after her 19th birthday. Despite never meeting before their wedding day, Kane and Hideo had four children and adopted a fifth. Hideo owned Tanaka Mochiya, a family company that manufactured and sold sticky rice, Zenzai (a sort of Japanese confection), and Udon noodles.

Kane's first son, Nobuo, also entered the military in 1943 and was imprisoned by the Soviet Union after WWII until returning to Japan in 1947.

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Despite undergoing multiple procedures, including one for cataracts and another for colon cancer, Kane now lives in peace at a Fukuoka rest home. She usually gets up at 6 a.m. and spends the day studying subjects like algebra. Kane's favourite hobby is playing Othello, and she's become a master at the traditional board game, frequently defeating rest-home employees.

Japan is one of the world's fastest-aging societies, with record-high life expectancy. In addition to the statistics, there is an extremely low birth rate. There are around 86,000 persons who are 100 years or older, according to estimates.

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• Japan
• Kane Tanaka
• world's oldest person
• Guinness world record
• woman alive
• oldest woman