Kane Tanaka: World’s Oldest Person Celebrates 119th Birthday in Nursing Home, Hopes to Reach 120
- The world's oldest woman Kane Tanaka is now 119 years old having celebrated her birthday on Sunday
- Tanaka was born in 1903 in Japan and later got married at 19 years to the owner of a rice shop where she worked all her adult life
- The world got a glimpse of the celebrations held in a nursing home in Fukuoka Japan through her great-granddaughter Junko's tweets
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World's oldest woman, Kane Tanaka, is now a year older having celebrated her birthday on Sunday, January 2.
A great achievement
The lucky Japanese woman who holds the coveted title is now 119 years old, which is not an easy feat these days.
Tanaka's great-granddaughter Junko Tanaka excitedly announced the new development to the world in a tweet and termed the 119 birthday as a great achievement.
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In a photo shared by Junko, a happy Tanaka could be seen flashing the peace sign while she was waving in another of the photos.
"Great achievement. (Kane Tanaka) reached 119 years of age. I hope you'll continue to live life cheerfully and to the fullest.," said Junko
Remains in a nursing home
Junko last saw her great-grandmother in December as she remains in a nursing home based in Fukuoka, Japan.
Along with the sweet message came photos of two commemorative Coca-Cola bottles that Tanaka was given for her birthday, with labels bearing her name and age to personalise them.
"Birthday gift 1: Introducing the presents received for Kane's birthday. Really appreciate this gift. Coca-Cola company made a commemorative birthday bottle. It seems (Kane) is still drinking Coca-Cola as usual," said Junko.
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Married rice shop owner
Tanaka was born in 1903 and later married a man who owned a rice shop; a place where she worked until the grand old age of 103 years.
Given her age, Tanaka has lived a full life that also saw her survive the Spanish flu and two world wars in addition to 49 Summer and Winter Olympic Games.
Junko started the Twitter account in January 2020 to commemorate Tanaka's life. In a March 2021 interview with CNN Junkpo said she wanted to share that (Tanaka's life) with the world for people to feel inspired and feel her joy.
"I might be biased because I'm related to her but I think it's kind of amazing," Junko said.
Secrets to long life
Briefly News previously reported that a woman from the US has credited her long life to staying away from stressful marriages and avoiding being tied down to men.
To her, the biggest source of her long, fulfilling life has been staying single and refusing to get married to any man.
The youthful 107-year-old who has been throwing parties ever since she turned 90 said she also loves dancing and participating in a lot of exercise.
Source: Briefly News
Kelly Lippke (Senior Editor) Kelly Lippke is a copy editor/proofreader who started her career at the Northern-Natal Courier with a BA in Communication Science/Psychology (Unisa, 2007). Kelly has worked for several Caxton publications, including the Highway Mail and Northglen News. Kelly’s unique editing perspective stems from an additional major in Linguistics. Kelly joined Briefly News in 2018 and she has 14 years of experience. Kelly has also passed a set of trainings by Google News Initiative. You can reach her at kelly.lippke@briefly.co.za.
Lebogang Mashego (Current Affairs HOD) Lebogang Mashego runs the Current Affairs desk. She joined the Briefly News team in 2021. She has 6 years of experience in the journalism field. Her journalism career started while studying at Rhodes University, where she worked for the Oppidan Press for 3 years. She worked as a lifestyle writer and editor at W24 and Opera News. She graduated with a BA degree majoring in Journalism and Media Studies in 2017. She's a recipient of the INMA Elevate Scholarship. Email: lebogang.mashego@briefly.co.za