World’s oldest person Itooka is dead

By Paul Dada

Tomiko Itooka, recognised as world’s oldest person, has passed on  at the age of 116.

Born on 23 May 1908, the Japanese supercentenarian was the world’s oldest verified living person, following the death of Maria Branyas on 19 August 2024. Itooka became Japan’s oldest living person after Fusa Tatsumi died on 12 December 2023.

She married Kenji in 1928, during World War II, managed the office of his textile factory. After her husband died in 1979, she lived alone.  But 1989,  she moved in with her two daughters.

She was still able to independently move at age 116 though she relied  on the wheelchair.

Her death on December 29, 2024  was  reported on Saturday  by Japanese public television station NHK. She was  said to have died  at a retirement home in Ashiya in the southern Hyogo prefecture.