Tomiko Itooka, a Japanese woman who was the oldest person in the world according to the Guinness Book of Recordsdied, an Ashiya city official said on Saturday. She was 116.
Yoshitsugu Nagata, an official in charge of policy for the elderly, said Itooka died on December 29 at a nursing home in Ashiya, Hega Prefecture, central Japan.
Asia City via AP
Itaoka, who loved bananas and the Japanese yogurt-flavored drink Calpis, was born on May 23, 1908. She became the oldest person last year after the death of 117-year-old Maria Brañasreports the Gerontology Research Group.
When told she topped the world supercentenarian rankings, she simply replied, “Thank you.”
When Ithaca 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 had long had a reputation for being cheerful, Nagata said. She has climbed the 3,067-meter (10,062 ft) Mount Ontake twice.
She married at age 20 and had two daughters and two sons, according to Guinness.
Itaoka ran the office of her husband's textile factory during World War II. She lived alone in Nara after her husband's death in 1979.
She is survived by a son and a daughter, five grandchildren. According to Nagata, the funeral took place with family and friends.
According to the Gerontology Research Group, the oldest person in the world is now 116-year-old Brazilian nun Ina Canabara Lucas, who was born 16 days after Ituca.