Last year I counted down the 10 longest-lived people and talked a little about each of them. But the only change since then has been the addition of Kane Tanaka, who is now #6 on the list and moving up, as she is still living. You move up quick on this list. If she lives another year, she will be 3rd.
Tanaka was born Kane Ota on 2 January 1903, the seventh child to Kumakichi and Kuma Ota, in the village of Wajiro (now part of Higashi-ku, Fukuoka), on the southern island of Kyushu.Born in the waning years of the Meiji era, Tanaka was premature and raised on breast milk from nurses. She married Hideo Tanaka in 1922; they had 4 biological children and adopted a 5th child. They worked in a store selling shiruko and udon noodles. After her husband and her son died during World War II, Tanaka continued working in the store, and retired at 63. In the 1970s, she visited the United States, where she has several nieces and nephews.
At 103, Tanaka was diagnosed with colon cancer. When she was 107, her son wrote a book about her life and longevity: In Good and Bad Times, 107 Years Old. She was interviewed by KBC in September 2017 when she was 114. This interview can be found on youtube along with more videos, especially of the day when she was declared the oldest living person. There was no translation of the interview, the subtitles are in Japanese.
As of 2018, Tanaka lived in a hospital in Higashi-ku, Fukuoka. She was still in good health, played Othello, and took short walks in the facility’s hallways. Her hobbies include calligraphy and calculations. She credits family, sleep and hope as her secrets for longevity. She said she would like to live to the age of 120. So we have something in common!
Tanaka has a strong appetite and likes sweets; she drinks three cans a day of canned coffee, sodas, and various nutritional drinks. On 9 March 2019, Guinness World Records named her the world’s oldest living person.
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kane_Tanaka
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oldest_people
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Igv2uNeh1RA