World's oldest man dies aged 116

Samantha - Have you not considered some of the great great grand children may not be old enough to have children? Please don't think you have come up with a witty remark - frankly you are just being insulting.

seven children, 14 grandchildren, 25 great-grand children and 14 great-great grandchildren,

LOL a math problem gone wrong! number almost doubles and then halves? hello low birth rate! I doubt that suddenly half his grandchildren were gay and the other 25% were infertile.

He was the last male alive who was born in the 19th century.

i'm so sad. RIPJK

At least this guy lived a decent life whether some wish to celebrate it or not. I saw that there is a man who is about 83 (back in 2011) who has been in prison for 60 years in the USA. This guy is long lived (for a criminal) and imagine if he were to make it to 100. So many years locked up doing nothing to contribute to society. This guy did more in his retirement years than the longest serving prisoner has ever done, and that is a good thing.

I know there have been stories recently of elderly people committing crimes in Japan in order to get sent to jail since they have no one to care for them, I wonder if the Japanese penal system is equipped to handle advanced aged people like this guy.

He is amazing. I wish I could live over 100 years old to see the future world like him.

Yes, horrendous photo. If that was the last photo of me to the world, I would rather. well. NOT LIVE to be that old!!!!

Makes me think: BTW, where do old people get off with those old huge heavy glasses, anyway?

Sorry, this is NOT the last thought I would want of anyone over my demise. Anyway, go to the kamasama, old gipper! Fly amongsst the stars into the universe.

Cool beans! He was born two years before my grandfather ... and outlasted him by 35.

I'm all for living as long and as well as I can.

Jeanne Calment (French) died at the ripe age of 122.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeanne_Calment

why is his mouth open like that? the scientific reason...i believe i've seen other old people this way

"the secrets of their longevity"

I already know it. It's all in the genes, and avoiding getting hit by trucks or lightning.

I plan to live forever myself. So far so good.

Maybe they could have tried to find another photo?

Wow...just imagine what things he had seen in his life and how many changes he has been through. When the Olympics in Tokyo took place, he was already 67 years old....amazing...

PokeJun. 12, 2013 - 03:48PM JST

I have more respect for someone who lived a short but meaningful life but left some major contribution behind, over someone who lived a long quiet life and saw a lot of things happen.

He gave life to 7 children, 14 grandchildren, 25 great-grand children and 14 great-great grandchildren. You say that you would respect a short but meaningful life with some major contributions.... well, isn't giving life to 60 people a major contribution? I don't know anyone personally that has done that. I respect whatever your definition of 'contibutions' is, but in my opinion, this article is enough to tell me that this man's life and 'contributions' were extremely meaningful.

Lucky dude, it's finally over

In the second half of this century the list of still-knocking around oldies will hopefully include cleo.

With well written posts and knowledgeable comments cleo,

... he lived through over 60 prime ministers ...

IF the pace of PM "rotations" does not change, many of us may get to such a count in a shorter time than 116 Years.

As Cleo put it there are less than a dozen older man of age of 120 years or more around the world, I think it's too small a number for a sample to carry out gerontological research work on longivity.

There's a lot more to life than not dying. I hope the reaper takes me before I look like the melting wax statue in the photo. But I don't mean to knock the late Jiroemon; I'm just surprised to see people so impressed with longevity without regard for substance. It says something sad about your values. I have more respect for someone who lived a short but meaningful life but left some major contribution behind, over someone who lived a long quiet life and saw a lot of things happen.

Peace out Jiroemon. 116 - pretty impressive to beat death for so long. In previous interviews, he always came across as happy go lucky - that must have counted majorly in his longevity. I will never forget this dude, with such an awesome sounding name. So many kids born today have such repetitive and insipid names.

Congrats to the man for living as long as he did. He saw the birth of flight and Voyager leave the solar system. He saw the rise and fall of Japanese fascism. He saw Japan go from agrarian to industrial to defeatist.

I hope Kyotango discovers that all the older people in the area sup down a good daily quantity of sake and accomplished a work-life balance heavily on the life side. That would cause government and business agencies to pause, eh?

However, the title could do with some serious editing: The world's oldest man ever... or The world's longest-lived man... But not the abomination as written.

Meh.

With an attitude like that, nothing will impress you or make you happy in this life.

I'm seeing comments like "fabulous life" "wonderful life" etc...but what exactly did he do other than living a long time? Perhaps he did live a really interesting life, but none of that is written. I don't think we should be so impressed by quantity. He worked in a post office for 40 years...exciting. He did some farming. He spawned a lot of children. Meh.

Absolutely! Well said. He had some lucky DNA, that's all!

@ poke c'mon now - Not dying for 116 consecutive years is a marvellous achievement - something we can all aspire to.I hope they make a movie about his life story. I think I read that he lived through over 60 prime ministers, imperialism, fascism - and ultimately saw Japan achieve democracy.

Looks like it is not a good thing to be the oldest living man....there is probably somebody running down deer for his food, in some remote land, who is 133 and has no birth certificate to prove it.

I'm seeing comments like "fabulous life" "wonderful life" etc...but what exactly did he do other than living a long time? Perhaps he did live a really interesting life, but none of that is written. I don't think we should be so impressed by quantity. He worked in a post office for 40 years...exciting. He did some farming. He spawned a lot of children. Meh.

With so many oldies in same area my guess would be that cause is more genetic than something in the water.

His descendants are 60 persons. What a wonderful life he lived !

so now who takes crown as world's (Japan's?) oldest person?

Encouraged by Kimura and 94 other people in Kyotango’s 60,000-strong population who will this year be 100 years old or more, the city has launched a research project to examine their diets and find the secrets of their longevity.

this doensn't make sense. i thought aging is a big problem for japanese economy. is aging a problem or not?

According to wiki there are still a few oldies from the 1890s knocking around - 2 in Japan, 5 in the US, 1 in Italy and one in the UK (scraping in with a birthday in December 1899).

In the second half of this century the list of still-knocking around oldies will hopefully include cleo.

I'm sure there will be some suprisingly simple answers when the research of the townspeople & their lifestyle . Clean living has alot to do with it,as well as a nip of sake!

he became the oldest man ever varified to have lived

The English in the article could be improved. Or perhaps this is in reference to how he spent his years? Hummm... maybe we should think about this and live more while we're still alive!

Sad. It was just yesterday I was reading the other story of his life and the amazing parade of inventions he'd witnessed.

Deserving of rest.

RIP. He sure did have a fabulous life. Who takes over as the oldest person now?

Oldest ever? Doesn't look like he is "celebrating" in the photo.

It is interesting to see how few great-grand children he had and is indicative of Japan's upside-down pyramid population.

While the city may be interested in centenarians dietary habits, I'm more interested in their lives and the stories they could share.

"You know, when I was a boy...." I'd be all ears.

RIP Kimura-san.

Not a bad Innings!!!

He was the last man from the 1800's on the planet. I do hope that if he was able that he gave as much blood as possible so that researchers can store it. Just imagine all of the immunities that his body had built up over those years, surviving some of the worst pandemics.

I am sure he lived a full life, and I hope that he finds eternal rest.

Wow, that was a life! RIP.