Kane Tanaka, world’s oldest person, dies at age 119

TOKYO — The world’s oldest person, Kane Tanaka, died on April 19 at age 119, Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare announced in a statement, CNN reported.

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Tanaka had been confirmed by Guinness World Records as both the oldest person living and the oldest living female in 2019. In a tweet, Guinness World Records said Tanaka was confirmed as “the oldest living person in January 2019 at the age of 116 years and 28 days.”

A post on Twitter by Kane’s family on April 13 said that Kane had been in and out of the hospital.

Tanaka was born in 1903, married a rice shop owner at 19, and then worked in the family’s store until she was 103, CNN reported. Tanaka survived cancer twice, and lived through two world wars as well as both the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic and the current COVID-19 pandemic.

The oldest living person in the world is now Lucile Randon, a French nun born on Feb. 11, 1904, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Tanaka had a busy daily routine, described in 2019 as featuring a 6 a.m. wakeup and afternoons spent studying math and practicing calligraphy, CBS News reported.

The oldest person ever recorded was Jeanne Calment, who lived to age 122 and died in August 1997, The New York Times reported.

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