World's oldest person Tomiko Itooka dies aged 116

Tomiko Itooka, the world's oldest person according to Guinness World Records, has died aged 116.

Itooka, from Japan, died on December 29 at at a care home in Hyogo Prefecture.

Itooka, who loved bananas and a yogurt-flavoured Japanese drink called Calpis, was born on May 23, 1908. She became the oldest person last year after the death of 117-year-old Maria Branyas, according to the Gerontology Research Group.

When she was told she was at the top of the World Supercentenarian Rankings List, she simply said, “Thank you.”

Born in Osaka, Itooka was a volleyball player in high school. She climbed the 3,067-metre (10,062-foot) Mount Ontake twice.

She married at 20, and had two daughters and two sons, according to Guinness.

Itooka managed the office of her husband’s textile factory during World War II. She lived alone in Nara after her husband died in 1979.

She is survived by one son and one daughter, and five grandchildren. A funeral service was held with family and friends, according to Nagata.

According to the Gerontology Research Group, the world's oldest person is now 116-year-old Brazilian nun Inah Canabarro Lucas, who was born 16 days after Itooka.

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