TOKYO: The world’s oldest individual, Japan’s Tomiko Itooka, has died on the age of 116, the town of Ashiya introduced on Saturday (January 4).
Itooka, who had 4 kids and 5 grandchildren, died Dec. 29 in a nursing house the place she had resided since 2019, the southern metropolis’s mayor mentioned in an announcement.
She was born on May 23, 1908, within the industrial heart of Osaka, close to Ashiya, 4 months earlier than the Ford Model T was launched within the United States.
Itooka was acknowledged because the world’s oldest individual following the dying in August 2024 of Spain’s Maria Branyas Morera on the age of 117.
“Ms. Itooka gave us braveness and hope by her lengthy life,” Ashiya’s 27-year-old mayor, Ryosuke Takashima, mentioned within the assertion.
“We thanks for that.”
Itooka, who was one among three brothers, skilled world wars, pandemics and technological breakthroughs.
As a scholar she performed volleyball.
As an older girl, Itooka loved bananas and Calpis, a comfortable milk drink in style in Japan, based on the mayor’s assertion.
Women in Japan usually take pleasure in longevity, however the nation faces a worsening demographic disaster as its rising aged inhabitants results in skyrocketing medical and healthcare prices, with a shrinking workforce bearing the brunt.
As of September, Japan had greater than 95,000 folks aged 100 or older, 88% of whom have been ladies.
Of the nation’s 124 million folks, practically a 3rd are 65 or older.
