Tomiko Itooka, a Japanese woman who was the world’s oldest person according to Guinness World Records, has died, an Ashiya city official said Saturday. She was 116.
Yoshitsugu Nagata, an official in charge of elderly policies, said Itooka died on December 29 at a care home in Ashiya, Hyogo Prefecture, central Japan.
Itooka, who loved bananas and a yogurt-flavoured Japanese drink called Calpis, was born on May 23, 1908. She became the oldest person last year following the death of 117-year-old Maria Branyas, according to the Gerontology Research Group.
When she was told she was at the top of the World Supercentenarian Rankings List, she simply replied, “Thank you.” When Itooka celebrated her birthday last year, she received flowers, a cake and a card from the mayor.
Born in Osaka, Itooka was a volleyball player in high school, and long had a reputation for a sprightly spirit, Nagata said. She climbed the 3,067-metre (10,062-foot) Mount Ontake twice. She married at 20, and had two daughters and two sons, according to Guinness.
Itooka managed 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 one son and one daughter, and five grandchildren. A funeral service was held with family and friends, according to Nagata. According to the Gerontology Research Group, the world’s oldest person is now 116-year-old Brazilian nun Inah Canabarro Lucas, who was born 16 days after Itooka.
Itooka died at a nursing home in the city of Ashiya in western Japan where she resided, the city government in Hyogo Prefecture said, reported Kyodo News. She was the eldest of three siblings.
“At the special nursing home in the city where she resided, she enjoyed drinking her favourite lactic acid beverages and often said Thank you to the staff,” reported Japanese daily ‘The Mainichi’ on Saturday.
Ashiya Mayor Ryosuke Takashima commented, “Through her long life, she gave us great courage and hope. I express my deepest condolences.”
Japanese average life expectancy had peaked in 2020, at 87.71 years for women and 81.56 years for men.
The average life spans had decreased in 2021 and 2022, due to rising death tolls from the coronavirus. The average life expectancy of Japanese people rose in 2023 for the first time in three years, due to a decline in deaths from the Covid-19 pandemic, a government data had showed.
The average life expectancy of women in Japan came to 87.14 years, up 0.05 from 2022, while for men it stood at 81.09, up 0.04, revealed the data released by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare in July 2024.