116-year-old Japanese Kane Tanaka, recognized as the oldest person by the Guinness World Records on Saturday, has finally achieved the dream she has harboured since she turned 100.
In a ceremony joined by families and local officials, Tanaka, who lives in a nursing home in Fukuoka City in southern Japan, received certificates from the Guinness World Records for both the world’s oldest living person and the world’s oldest living woman.
“It gives me a great pleasure to confirm Kane Tanaka is the oldest person living aged 116 years and 66 days as of 9th March 2019,” Guiness World Records judge Kaori Ishikawa said.
Tanaka, born on 2 January 1903, cried and said the moment of recognition was the most exciting one in her life.
The oldest man that has ever lived was a Japanese, Jiroemon Kimura, who died in 2013 at the age of 116 years and 54 days.
The person who had lived the longest, recognised by Guinness World Records, is French woman Jeanne Calment who lived to be 122 years and 164 days and died on August 4, 1997.
