- Fusa Tatsumi, who was Japan’s oldest person, passed away at her care home
- Born in April 1907, Tatsumi raised three children with her husband in Osaka
The world’s second oldest woman has died at the age of 116 at a nursing home in Japan.
Fusa Tatsumi, who was Japan’s oldest person, passed away on Tuesday at a care facility in Osaka after eating her favourite meal of bean-paste jelly.
Born on 25 April 1907, Tatsumi raised three children with her husband Ryutaro, a farmer, in Osaka, local broadcaster MBS reported.
‘Tatsumi died aged 116 at a care facility in Osaka on Tuesday,’ an official in Osaka’s Kashiwara city said, as tributes to the supercentenarian poured in.
‘I think she did great to get to this age,’ Tatsumi’s eldest son, Kanji, 76, told local media.
Fusa Tatsumi, who was Japan’s oldest person, passed away on Tuesday at the care facility in Osaka after eating her favourite meal of bean-paste jelly
A black and white photo of Fusa Tatsumi taken when she was in her 20s
Osaka governor Hirofumi Yoshimura offered his condolences, recalling a party he attended to celebrate Tatsumi’s longevity in September.
‘I still remember how healthy Ms Fusa Tatsumi was,’ Yoshimura said. ‘I sincerely pray for her soul.’
In footage aired by local media outlets she was seen in a wheelchair, mostly sleeping, at her 116th birthday celebration in April.
Tatsumi was born on 25 April 1907 in Yao City, Osaka Prefecture, as the fifth of six siblings.
After graduating from school, she married her husband Ryutaro, a farmer who grew peaches and grapes, at the age of 32.
Two years later, she gave birth no her eldest daughter in 1941 and her eldest son in 1947.
Tatsumi worked hard on the family farm for more than 20 years and would carry baskets of harvested fruit on her back up and down the steep slope of the orchard.
Her family said this had helped train Tatsumi’s body, which may have been a factor in her longevity.
Tatsumi became Japan’s oldest person in the country after the death of a 119-year-old woman, Kane Tanaka, in April 2022.
Guinness World Records had officially acknowledged Tanaka’s status as the world’s oldest person in April 2022.
Today, that honour belongs to US-born Maria Branyas Morera, who will turn 117 on March 4 next year.
Tatsumi was the second oldest woman in the world but her death means that Edith Ceccarelli, from the US, holds that honour now.
This is a breaking news story, more to follow…