World's oldest woman turns 116 in Japan

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, September 17, 2003

World's oldest woman turns 116 in Japan

A Japanese woman believed to be the oldest person in the world turned 116 on Tuesday. Kamato Hongo was recognized as the world's oldest living person by the Guinness Book of Records after an American woman Maude Farris-Luse died last March at the age of 115.

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A Japanese woman believed to be the oldest person in the world turned 116 on Tuesday. Born in 1887, when Japan was still in the throes of its conversion from samurai rule to modern democracy, Kamato Hongo was recognized as the world's oldest living person by the Guinness Book of Records after an American woman Maude Farris-Luse died last March at the age of 115.

Hongo, whose husband died when she was 77, is famous throughout Japan for her habit of sleeping for two days and then staying awake for two days.

She has seven children three of whom have died 27 grandchildren, 57 great-grandchildren and 11 great-great-grandchildren.

An Internet homepage devoted to her lists her favorite snack as unrefined brown sugar and also reveals her secret to long life.

"Not moping around," it says.

Hongo is now bedridden and shares a hospital room with her 77-year-old daughter.

The world's oldest documented man, 114-year-old Yukichi Chuganji, is Japanese. Japan's life expectancy 85.23 years for women and 78.32 for men in 2002 is the longest in the world.

The average age of the population is also steadily rising.

Source: Agencies

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