World’s oldest person, Kane Tanaka, dies at 119
Kane Tanaka, the world’s oldest verified person, died in Japan at 119 years old.
Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare released a public statement announcing Tanaka’s death. She died April 19. She was born on Jan. 2, 1903. She was born before the Wright brothers’ first powered flight and died as the world’s second-oldest person ever, according to Guinness World Records.
Tanaka’s cause of death was unknown, although her family said in a tweet this month that she had been in and out of hospital. She twice survived cancer and lived through two pandemics: the Spanish flu and COVID-19.
Tanaka celebrated her 119th birthday in Japan in January. Tanaka’s family said at the time that she intended to live another year to reach her 120th birthday, further bolstering her feat in the Guinness Book of Records. It began tallying her age in March 2019, when she had turned 116.
Guinness World Records tweeted: “She became the oldest living person in January 2019 at the age of 116 years and 28 days. She also is the second oldest person ever recorded, behind only Jeanne Calment who lived to the age of 122 . ... The titles of oldest person living and oldest person living (female) are currently being investigated.”
Tanaka eclipsed the Japanese record for years lived when she turned 117 years and 261 days in September 2020. On that occasion, she posed for photographers with a peace sign while drinking a Coke.
In her lifetime, Tanaka witnessed five Japanese imperial reigns and two world wars. She was born six months before British novelist George Orwell was born.
Tanaka was the seventh of nine siblings and was married when she was 19. She supported her family by running a noodle shop when her husband and eldest son fought in the Second Sino-Japanese War, which began in 1937.