Tomiko Itooka, a Japanese woman who was the world’s oldest person according to Guinness World Records, has died at the age of 116.
Yoshitsugu Nagata, an official in charge of elderly policies, said Itooka died on 29 December at a care home in Ashiya, Hyogo prefecture in central Japan.
Itooka, who enjoyed bananas and a yogurt-flavored Japanese drink called Calpis, was born on 23 May 1908. She became the oldest person last year after the death of 117-year-old Maria Branyas, according to the Gerontology Research Group (GRG).
When she was told she was at the top of the world supercentenarian rankings list, she simply replied: “Thank you.”
Itooka received flowers, a cake and a card from the mayor when she celebrated her birthday last year.
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-ft) 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 the second world war. She lived alone in Nara after her husband died in 1979.
She is survived by a son and a daughter and five grandchildren. A funeral service was held with family and friends, according to Nagata.
The world’s oldest person is now 116-year-old Brazilian nun Inah Canabarro Lucas, who was born 16 days after Itooka, according to the GRG.