Pop Culture

Oldest Person in the World Dies at 116

Tomiko Itooka died on Dec. 29 in Ashiya, Hyogo Prefecture, central Japan.

Guinness World Records
(Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Image)

The oldest person in the world has died at 116 years old.

ABC News reports that Tomiko Itooka, a Japanese woman was named the world's oldest person by the Guinness Book of World Records, has died.

According to Yoshitsugu Nagata, an official that's in charge of elderly policies, Itooka died on Dec. 29 in Ashiya, Hyogo Prefecture, central Japan at a care home.

Itooka was born in Osaka on May 23, 1908. She played volleyball in high school and even climbed Mount Ontake (which stands at 10,062 feet) twice.

She married at 20 years old and had two sons and two daughters. Itooka managed the office of her husband’s textile factory throughout World War II. After her husband passed away in 1979, she lived alone in Nara.

In 2024, she was informed that she was at the top of the World Supercentenarian Rankings List after the death of 117-year-old Maria Branyas. Itooka simply responded with, “Thank you.”

Itooka is survived by one son, one daughter, and five grandchildren.

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