Kane Tanaka, the world's oldest person, has died aged 119 years old. The Japanese woman was born on January 2, 1903 - the year of the Wright Brothers' first controlled flight of their motor-driven airplane.
She was confirmed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living person in 2019. Tanaka died of old age at a hospital in Fukuoka city, western Japan, on Tuesday, April 19, it has been confirmed by Japan's state broadcaster, The Mirror reports.
During her life, she had been partial to chocolate and fizzy drinks, NHK said. Despite her age, she typically woke up at 6am and was still learning, often studying subjects like maths during her afternoons.
She also loved playing the classic board game Othello and had become an expert at the game, often beating nursing home staff. She was confirmed as the oldest person alive on January 30, 2019, (when she was 116 years 28 days) with her loved ones and the mayor present for the occasion.
When the Guinness World Records recognised her as the oldest person alive in 2019, she was asked what moment she was the most happy in life. She was the seventh child of Kumakichi and Kuma Ota, had married Hideo Tanaka on January 6, 1922, four days after turning 19.
The couple went on to have four children and adopted a fifth. She had planned to use a wheelchair to take part in the torch relay for the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, but the pandemic prevented her from doing so.
During her life, she suffered from a number of health issues, and had several operations, including surgeries for cataracts and colorectal cancer, but lived 'peacefully' in her final years.
