‘Kind of’ happy to be oldest in world
Print Edition
Misao Okawa, a Japanese woman believed to be the world’s oldest person, turned 116 yesterday and celebrated by tucking into a white cake decorated with strawberries and candles.
She credits a healthy appetite and getting plenty of rest for her longevity.
Accepting a bouquet from well-wishers at a small party in the nursing home where she lives in the western city of Osaka, Okawa sat by the cake, decorated with “116” in candles, and later pronounced it as “delicious.”
She wore a pink kimono patterned with cherry blossoms and a blue cardigan for the event.
Asked if she was happy to have lived so long, Okawa replied, according to the Asahi Shimbun newspaper: “Kind of.”
Born the daughter of a fabric merchant in Osaka in 1898, on the same day as Chinese revolutionary leader Zhou Enlai, Okawa married in 1919. Two of her three children are still alive, both of them in their 90s.
She is known for her healthy appetite and one of her favorite foods is sashimi. In the past six months, she has gained 4 kilograms Japanese media said.
Okawa has been dubbed the world’s oldest living person since the June 2013 death of 116-year-old Jiroemon Kimura, also Japanese.
She is the 10th person verified to have reached 116 and the third oldest Japanese person ever.
Japan is one of the world’s most long-lived nations, with almost 54,400 centenarians as of September 2013, according to the health ministry.
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