Kane Tanaka a woman born in 1903 in the Fukuoka region of Japan passed away at the old age of 119. She had hoped to reach 120.
The Guinness World Records recognised Ms Tanaka as the oldest person alive in 2019. In 2020 she became the oldest person in Japan at 117 and 261 days old.
Kane Tanaka enjoyed board games, solving maths problems, soda and chocolate. She married Hideo Tanaka a century ago in 1922 and they had four children and adopted a fifth.
Ms Tanaka’s daily routine was described at the time as including a 6:00 am wake-up, and afternoons spent studying mathematics and practising calligraphy.
Japan has the world’s most elderly population, according to World Bank data, with around 28 per cent aged 65 or over.
Most times it is difficult to document old people because many of them do not remember the year they were born and their births were not documented. So it wouldn’t be shocking to learn that there are people that are older than the late Kane Tanaka. In Zimbabwe, we have many old people but they mostly live in the rural areas