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Tomiko Itooka, a Japanese woman who was the world’s oldest person, according to Guinness World Records, has died, an Ashiya city official said Saturday. She was 116.
Yoshitsugu Nagata, an official in charge of elderly policy, said Itooka died on December 29 at a nursing home in Ashiya, Hyogo Prefecture, central Japan.
Itooka, who loved bananas and a Japanese yogurt-flavored drink called Calpis, was born on May 23, 1908. She became the oldest person after the death of 117-year-old Maria Branyas last year, according to the Gerontology Research Group.
When told she was at the top of the World Supercentenarian Rankings list, she simply replied, “Thank you.”
When Itooka 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 long had a reputation for a cheerful spirit, Nagata said. She climbed the 3,067 meter (10,062 feet) Mount Ontake twice.
She married at 20, and had two daughters and two sons, according to Guinness.
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Itooka managed the office of her husband’s textile factory during World War II. She lived alone in Nara after her husband died in 1979.
She is survived by one son and one daughter, and five grandchildren. A funeral service was held with family and friends, according to Nagata.
According to the Gerontology Research Group, the oldest person in the world is now the 116-year-old Brazilian nun Inah Canabarro Lucas, who was born 16 days after Itooka.
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