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World's oldest person dies in Japan at 119

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This is pretty interesting. She was born on 2 January 1903, the year before the start of the Russo-Japanese war. And the year before Yasuhito / Prince Chichibu was born.

According to some of my reference materials:

@ When she was born, the population of Japan was between 45 and 46 million people. The largest city was Tokyo at about 1½ million people.

@ Baseball was still in its infancy in Japan; seven years before she was born, a team from Tokyo’s Ichikō High School won over a team of select foreigners from the Yokohama Country & Athletic Club. The next decade saw growing popularity of baseball, leading to the start of high school, college, and university teams throughout Japan, and an intense rivalry between teams from Keio University and Waseda University was also born in 1903. [cool photo from the first Waseda-Keio Game in 1903 is still available at https://photobank.mainichi.co.jp/kiji_detail.php?id=P19950725dd1dd1phj039000 ]

@ In 1903, skilled Japanese statesman and diplomat (Baron, later Count then Marquess) Komura Jutarō was Minister of Foreign Affairs under then Prime Minister Count Taro Katsura.

@ Japan’s currency was based on the coinage system and followed the gold standard back then. The unit of the coinage was 2 fun of pure gold (11.574 grains), which was called one yen. Gold coins came in three denominations of 5 yen, 10 yen and 20 yen; and subsidiary silver coins came in 10 sen, 20 sen, and 50 sen denominations.

@ Japan's total foreign commerce back then was 582,581,800 yen in 1903. Total exports were 281,671,889 yen, and imports were 300,909,911 yen.

@ Japan’s telegraphic service in March, 1903 saw 2,187 telegraphic offices (1,592 being postal telegraph offices), 549 receiving boxes and 78,711 miles of line.

@ In Japan, at the end of 1902, there were 29 principal telephone exchanges, 134 public automatic telephones, 29,941 telephone subscribers, and 104,725 miles of line. The rate charged to a phone subscriber was 60 yen a year.

@ The year she was born, Pope Leo XIII. died, and Pope Pius X. was elected.

@ The Nobel Prize for physics in 1903 was divided between Antoine Henri Becquerel in recognition of his discovery of spontaneous radioactivity, and Pierre Curie, and his wife, Marie Sklodovska Curie for their work in connection with the radiation phenomena discovered by Professor Becquerel.

There is more, but I think that you get the idea. March of time.

22 ( +22 / -0 )

Married 100 years ago!

15 ( +15 / -0 )

Why is it the world's oldest Japanese people are always eating strawberries and cream?

Every year its the same.

Are strawberries and cream the fountain of youth ?

-7 ( +7 / -14 )

Not soda and chocolate?

-4 ( +1 / -5 )

Well done Ms Tanaka !

Hope you enjoyed your life.

14 ( +14 / -0 )

Japan has the world's most elderly population, according to World Bank data, with around 28 percent aged 65 or over.

that's a dire situation.

-11 ( +3 / -14 )

My goodness. My pension would run out long before 100 even!

-4 ( +6 / -10 )

What an amazing life and achievement! Hope I can live to 119, but my chances are 1 in a billion!

Who is the new oldest person?

6 ( +7 / -1 )

May she rest in peace. What a life to be celebrated! Kinda wish she left behind a memoire or journal.

8 ( +8 / -0 )

Apparently solving math problems extending life. I know what to answer my son when he next asks me why the hell he needs to study math!

8 ( +8 / -0 )

How do you know she didn't leave a memoire or journal ?

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

Why is it the world's oldest Japanese people are always eating strawberries and cream?

Typically, these older folk only get their picture taken eating cake on their birthday, and strawberries and cream just happen to be the most cake-like thing they can eat. They probably can't eat hard food like steak and cookies.

Married 100 years ago. Sugoi!

3 ( +4 / -1 )

My goodness. My pension would run out long before 100 even!

Poor pension, need to work more years, LOL !!..

-1 ( +3 / -4 )

There is more, but I think that you get the idea. March of time.

She could tell you plenty about all the history made in her long life. Radio was the medium, she lived to see television arrive. She survived the fascist era and witnessed Japan becoming the modern economic and cultural powerhouse it is now. Then video killed the radio star. She witnessed some diseases lessened in impact by medical advances and in some cases eradicated. Communism (as we know it) wasn't even around yet in 1903. She lived thru the entire Cold War (although Communism still rules in a few nations). Space travel developed and she even lived to see her country become a contender (JAXA). She witnessed the rise of jazz and rock'n'roll, both music genres and cultural traits are popular in Japan.

So many advances, changes, evolution, revolutions, innovations, history thru her long life. What a LONG strange trip it's been! May she RIP now.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

Gosh, all the things she must have seen. It would have been absolutely fascinating to sit down and have a chat with her. RiP, ma'am. I hope you 're happy wherever you are now.

7 ( +7 / -0 )

Who is the new oldest person?

According to wikipedia, its Lucile Randon of France, age 118. Also, Tanaka died last week on the 19th. I'm surprised the media is only reporting it now. Maybe some family members were hoping her death would go unnoticed for a few months?

0 ( +3 / -3 )

I'm sorry to hear she passed, may she rest in peace. I'm also sorry to hear math helps extend your life, as I'm extremely poor at the subject lol. May her memory be a blessing to those she knew and loved.

8 ( +8 / -0 )

She wasn’t the oldest . They should go to rural parts of Africa like Nigeria and see . Some women there are 137 years old .

-11 ( +0 / -11 )

At least not of covid or with covid......

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

You've got to name your granddaughter Kana Tanaka.

Secret longevity is either French Wine or Japanese Sake, almost everyday at relax mood.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Kane Tanaka your work is done you lived through it all now you can finally rest in peace!

4 ( +4 / -0 )

When the Guinness World Records recognized her as the oldest person alive in 2019, she was asked what moment she was the most happy in life. Her answer: "Now."

That is inspiring and probably more important than the age, being able to be happy in your latest years is something not many people can say.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

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