Kane Tanaka

Kane Tanaka (田中カ子, Tanaka, Kane, January 2, 1903 – April 19, 2022) was a Japanese supercentenarian. She was the world's oldest verified living person from July 22, 2018 until she died on April 19, 2022.^[2] After Tanaka's death, French nun Lucile Randon become the oldest recognised living person ever which is to be 118 years, 340 days old.

Kane Tanaka
田中カ子
Tanaka aged 20, c. 1923
Born	(1903-01-02)2 January 1903 Wajiro Village, Japan (present-day Higashi-ku, Fukuoka, Japan)
Died	(2022-04-19)19 April 2022 (aged 119 years, 107 days)[1] Fukuoka, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan
Nationality	Japanese
Known for	Oldest verified living person (22 July 2018 - 19 April 2022) Longest-lived Japanese 2nd oldest person in history
Spouse	Hideo Tanaka ​ ​ (m. 1922; died 1993)​
Children	5

Tanaka is the second-oldest verified person (behind Jeanne Calment) and the oldest verified Japanese and Asian person ever, following the death of Nabi Tajima on April 21, 2018.^[3]

Biography

Tanaka lived in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan.^[4] She credited family, sleep and hope as her secrets for long age. She married Hideo Tanaka from 1922 until her husband's death in 1993, at the age of 90 after they married for 71 years. They had five children: Nobuo Tanaka, Etsuko Tanaka, Tsuneo Tanaka, Kazuko Tanaka, and her adopted daughter Haturo Tanaka 1922 to 1945.

Tanaka married Hideo Tanaka at the age of 19 and was in charge of an udon noodle shop when her husband and eldest son Nobuo were sent to fight in World War II.^[5] After the war, she and her husband became Christians and ran a rice shop together.^[5]

She lived through all five imperial reigns that make up modern day Japan, with the first, the Meiji era, ended in 1912 when she was nine years old.^[6]

Tanaka said that she wanted to live to the age of 120, saying her faith in God, family, sleep, hope, eating good food, and practicing mathematics has helped her live a long life.^[7] Her long life along with that of Jeanne Calment and Sarah Knauss has created the debate that the maximum lifespan for humans could be 115–125 years.^[8][9]

She was supposed to participate the Olympic torch at the 2020 Summer Olympics, but she decided not to participate due to an increase in COVID-19 cases in Japan.^[10]

She died in a hospital in Fukuoka, Japan, from complications from old age in a hospital on April 19, 2022, nine days after she became the second oldest verified person ever after Jeanne Calment.

Tanaka's death was announced on April 25, 2022 after she died six days in a hospital from old age.^[11][12] She was interred on April 29, 2022, at Fushimi Inari Shrine, Kyoto, Japan.^[13]

Longevity milestones

• 22 July 2018 - Chiyo Miyako died. Kane Tanaka, aged 115 years and 201 days, become the world's oldest living person.^[14]
• 18 June 2019 - Maria-Giuseppa Robucci died. Kane Tanaka became the last verified surviving person born in 1903.
• 2 January 2020 – Kane Tanaka became the 9th verified person in history to reach age 117, and the 4th Japanese person to do so.
• 19 September 2020 - Broke the record of longest-lived Japanese person, as well as the 3rd-oldest person in the history, after surpassing Nabi Tajima's age of 117 years, 260 days.^[15]
• 2 January 2021 – Kane Tanaka became the 3rd verified person in history to reach age 118, and the first to do so since Sarah Knauss, who celebrated her 118th birthday on September 24, 1998.
• 2 January 2022 – Kane Tanaka became the 3rd verified person in history to reach age 119, and the first to do so since Sarah Knauss, who celebrated her 119th birthday on September 24, 1999.
• 10 April 2022 - With the age of 119 years and 98 days, surpassed the lifespan of Sarah Knauss to become the 2nd-oldest verified person.
• 19 April 2022 - Died at the age of 119 years and 107 days from old age. With Tanaka's death, Lucile Randon become the oldest recognised living person.

Related pages

• Jiroemon Kimura, the oldest man ever in Japan. Kane Tanaka died on the day of what would've been his 125th birthday.