TOKYO: Sakari Momoi, who was recognised as the world’s oldest man and credited healthy eating and getting plenty of sleep for his longevity, has died at the age of 112, Japanese media said yesterday. He died of kidney failure in a care home in Tokyo.
Momoi was born in an area of Fukushima hit hard by the tsunami and nuclear meltdowns of four years ago in February 1903 - the year the teddy bear was introduced and Orville Wright carried out the first powered, heavier-than-air flight.
Momoi, born months before the Wright brothers made their first successful flight, passed away, said the official at Saitama City, north of Tokyo, where he had lived for many years.
Named the world’s oldest man in August 2014, Momoi, a former teacher who spent his days practising calligraphy and taking part in recreational activities at the hospital where he lived, donned a suit and tie for a ceremony to receive a plaque from Guinness World Records.
“I want to live two more years,” he said at the time.
The world’s oldest man is now likely to be Japanese Yasutaro Koide, born in March 1903, a little over a month younger than Momoi. US resident Susannah Mushatt Jones, 116, is the world’s oldest person.
Japan is known for the longevity of its people and around a quarter of its population of 128 million is aged 65 or older.
Reuters
