The world's oldest living person has celebrated their 119th birthday, and says that they can't wait to live to 120.
Kane Tanaka, a Japanese woman living in a nursing home in Fukuoka is officially registered by the Guinness World Records as being the oldest person alive today and is close to being the oldest person to have ever lived, at least according to official records.
Tanaka says she lives a good life and enjoys fizzy drinks and chocolate, keeping her mind active by solving puzzles. She also wakes up at 6 in the morning every morning to begin her day.
Tanaka was born in 1903 in the Japanese Empire and has lived through two world wars and the huge changes that have occurred in Japanese society during the 20th century. She shares her birth year with famous figures such as George Orwell, film director Yasujiro Ozu and Japanese poet Misuzu Kaneko, and was born in the same year as the Wright brother's first flight took place. She has also survived a number of pandemics, including the 1919 Spanish flu and the current Covid-19 pandemic.
Her 62-year-old grandson told reporters:
"I would like to personally congratulate her soon. I hope she remains healthy and has fun everyday as she grows older."
Tanaka is known to have married aged 19 in 1922 and spent most of her life running a noodle shop with her family members. She was the seventh of nine children and her family fought in the Second Sino-Japanese War that took place in 1937.
Jeanne Calment is the oldest person to have ever officially lived. The French woman lived to be 122 years old and died in 1997, outliving some of her grandchildren. At one time in her life, she was reported to have met Vincent Van Gogh.
While there have been other reports worldwide of people living to be 130 or 140 years old, there are no official records backing this up and many of these stories are alleged to be exaggerated or the result of no one being alive long-enough to verify birthdates.
[Based on reporting by: 9GAG]
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