A Japanese woman, who entered the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's oldest person, has died at the age of 116.
Tomiko Itoka died at a nursing home in Ashiya City, Hyogo Prefecture, according to officials.
She became the oldest person in the world after the death of Spanish Maria Branyas Moreira in August 2024 at the age of 117 years.
“Ms. Itoka gave us courage and hope during her long life,” Ashiya Mayor Ryosuke Takashima, 27, said in a statement.
“We thank her for that.”
Ms. Itoka was born in May 1908, six years before World War I, the same year the Ford Model T was launched in the United States.
She was verified as the world's oldest person in September 2024 and received the official GWR certification on Respect for the Elderly Day, a Japanese public holiday observed annually to honor the country's elderly citizens.
Ms. Ituka, who was one of three siblings, experienced world wars and pandemics as well as technological advances.
As a student, she played volleyball and climbed the 3,067 m (10,062 ft) Mount Ontake twice.
In her older years, she enjoyed bananas and Calbis, a milky soft drink popular in Japan, according to the mayor's statement.
She married when she was twenty years old and gave birth to two daughters and two sons, according to Guinness.
During World War II she managed her husband's textile factory office. She lived alone in Nara after her husband died in 1979.
She leaves behind one son, one daughter and five grandchildren. Funeral services were held with family and friends, according to officials.
As of September, Japan counted more than 95,000 people aged 100 or older, 88% of whom were women.
Of the country's population of 124 million, nearly a third are 65 or older.
Brazilian nun Ina Canabarro Lucas, who was born 16 days after Ituka and is 116 years old, is now believed to be the oldest person in the world.
