A woman certified as the oldest person in the world has died at the age of 119. According to local officials, Kane Tanaka - a centenarian from Japan - died of old age in hospital in Fukuoka city, western Japan, last Tuesday. <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/worlds-oldest-person-119-year-old-woman-dies-in-japan/"> CBS News</a> reports that Tanaka was born in the Fukuoka region on January 2, 1903 - the same year that the Wright brothers flew for the first time and that Marie Curie became the first woman to win a Nobel Prize. Tanaka had enjoyed an existence of good health until recently and resided at a nursing home, where she played board games, solved math problems, drank soda, and ate chocolate. When she was younger, Tanaka ran a number of businesses including a noodle shop and a rice cake store. She married Hideo Tanaka exactly a century ago in 1922, and would eventually go on to birth four children and adopt a fifth. She reportedly hoped to use a wheelchair to participate in the torch relay for the Tokyo Olympics last year - but was prevented from doing so due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic <img class="size-full wp-image-1263152510" src="https://img.vt.co/2022/04/2AJPA2T-scaled.jpg" alt="" width="2560" height="1822" />[[imagecaption|| Credit: Newscom / Alamy]] When asked by the<a href="https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/news/2019/3/worlds-oldest-person-confirmed-as-116-year-old-kane-tanaka-from-japan"> Guinness World Records</a> in 2019 what moment had been her happiest, she responded: "Now." Her daily routine saw her wake up at 6:00 AM and spend afternoons studying math and practicing calligraphy. "One of Kane's favorite pastimes is a game of Othello and she's become an expert at the classic board game, often beating rest-home staff," <a href="https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/news/2019/3/worlds-oldest-person-confirmed-as-116-year-old-kane-tanaka-from-japan">Guinness</a> said. Local governor Seitaro Hattori spoke about Tanaka and her long life after she passed away. "I was looking forward to seeing Kane-san on this year's Respect for the Aged Day (a national holiday in September) and celebrating together with her favorite soda and chocolate," he said in a statement on Monday. "I am extremely saddened by the news." According to <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.POP.65UP.TO.ZS?locations=JP">World Bank data</a>, Japan has the highest proportion of elderly people in the world, with about 28 percent aged 65 or over. The oldest-ever living person to be verified by Guinness was a French woman by the name of Jeanne Louise Calment, who died at the age of 122 years and 164 days back in 1997. <h6>Featured image credit: Newscom / Alamy</h6>

World's oldest person Kane Tanaka dies at the age of 119

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