The world’s oldest person, Misao Okawa, died 10 days after she stopped eating, sources said. She was 117.
Okawa, the world’s oldest person according to Guinness World Records, had eaten a lot of cake during her birthday last March 5 but the woman stopped eating in the last 10 days.
No one exactly knew why Okawa stopped eating but Tomohiro Okada, an official at the nursing home, said she used to eat well and her favorite dish was ramen.
“She went so peacefully, as if she had just fallen asleep,” Okada said. “We will miss her a lot.”
“She was a person with mild character, and loved to eat so much. Her favorite food was sushi and udon noodles,” said Okada.
Okawa was surrounded by her family when she died peacefully in her nursing home.
Okawa was the verified oldest Japanese person ever, the oldest person ever born in Asia, and the fifth oldest verified person ever recorded.
Okawa was the 30th person verified to have reached age 115, the tenth verified person to reach the age of 116 and the fifth verified person to reach the age of 117. She was also the last living Japanese person to have been born in the 1800s.
Okawa was the world’s oldest living woman since the death of 115-year-old Japanese woman Koto Okubo on 12 January 2013.
On 27 February 2013, a few days before her 115th birthday, she was officially recognized by Guinness World Records as the oldest living woman in the world and was presented with a certificate at her nursing home in Osaka.
Okawa said that sushi and sleep were the reasons why she lived so long.
On her 117th birthday, she said that her life seemed short. When asked about the secret of her longevity, she replied, jokingly, “I wonder about that too.” – BusinessNewsAsia.com