After more than a century of life, love and amazing memories, the oldest woman in the world has died at the age of 119.
Kane Tanaka died of old age on April 19 at a hospital in Fukuoka, her hometown in southern Japan, where she lived her entire life, officials confirmed on Tuesday. She loved playing the board game Othello and was often spotted sipping soda and snacking on chocolates.
Born on Jan. 2, 1903, she was recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records for her lengthy life in 2019, when Tanaka reached 116 years and 28 days old.
At the age of 19, she married Hideo Tanaka, and helped run a family business selling sticky rice, udon, and the popular Japanese dessert, zenzai. She worked at the shop until she was 103.
In recent years, Tanaka has faced several health battles, CNN reported. The supercentenarian has twice survived cancer and has lived through two global pandemics, including the Spanish Flu in 1918 and the COVID-19 health crisis.
Just last month, Tanaka surpassed the United States’ Sarah Knauss to become the second-longest lived person in recorded history. She is behind only Jeanne Louise Calment, a French woman who lived to 122 years and 164 days. She died in 1996.
The world’s oldest living human is now Lucile Randon, a French nun who goes by Sister Andre, according to the The Gerontology Research Group. She is 118 years old.
