Japan: World’s oldest person Kane Tanaka celebrates 119th birthday in Fukuoka prefecture

The world’s oldest person celebrated her 119th birthday in Japan on January 2, Sunday. Kane Tanaka celebrated her birthday with staff at the nursing home where she lives in Fukuoka prefecture, reported Japan Times. Tanaka communicates with the nursing home staff through gestures and likes to eat chocolates. 

Kane Tanaka, born on January 2, 1903, has lived during Meiji, Taisho, Showa, Heisei and current Reiwa eras in Japan, as per the Japan Times news report. Her family has revealed that Tanaka has expressed hope of living until the age of 120. The 119-year-old Japanese woman likes to have chocolates and carbonated drinks, and enjoys solving number puzzles. Her 62-year-old grandson, Eiji, said that he would like to personally wish her as soon as possible and hoped that she remains “healthy and has fun everyday as she grows older.”

Kane Tanaka was recognised as World's Oldest Person in 2019

The Guinness Book of World Records recognised Tanaka as the world’s oldest person in March 2019, when she was 116. She had also achieved an all-time Japanese age record when she became 117 years and 261 days old. Kane was born in 1903, the year when the Wright brothers made their first powered flight. Kane Tanaka was the seventh child of Kumakichi and Kuma Ota and she married Hideo Tanaka on January 6, 1922, four days after her 19th birthday, according to the Guinness World Records. The couple had four children and adopted the fifth child. During the Second Sino-Japanese War, when her husband Hideo Tanako and her elder son went for fight, Tanaka started running a noodle shop in order to support her family. Kane Tanaka has undergone several operations including one for cataracts and colorectal cancer.  

Image: AP