Vegetable soup meal at 7am on your birthday… With a smile, “Everyone applause!”
I like “chocolate”, I usually do gymnastics, move and play
Grandmother Tanaka Kane is delighted with the cake she received as a gift on “Respect for the Aged Day” in September 2019. Kyodo = Yonhap News
Japanese grandmother Tanaka Kane, who holds the Guinness record for the oldest in the world, celebrated her 118th birthday on the 2nd. According to Kyodo News, Grandma Tanaka, who lives in a nursing home for the elderly in Fukuoka City, was born in 1903, the year when the American Wright brothers succeeded in making mankind’s first manned motorized flight. At the age of 116 years and 66 days last year, Grandma Tanaka, who was recognized by the Guinness World Records of England as the’oldest surviving man’ for both men and women, has the record of being the oldest in Japan, a country of longevity. In terms of the Japanese era (dividing the era based on the king), they live in five eras, from the modern era of Meiji to the present Reiwa (the era of Emperor Naruhito). When asked about the secret of longevity on her 118th birthday, Mr. Tanaka said, “Eat something delicious and study.” His target life expectancy is 120, and he expressed his willingness to live at least two more years. On the 2nd, the 118th birthday, he woke up around 7 am, ate porridge and vegetable soup, and congratulated his birthday with a smile, saying, “Everyone applause.” Tanaka is said to be enjoying her favorite chocolate and cola because she has a strong appetite for her body movements or playing with the game’Ocelo’, a game played by two people.
Grandmother Tanaka Kane, who received the 118th birthday award on the 2nd. The picture is from January 2020. Kyodo = Yonhap News
Eiji Tanaka, 61, a grandson living in Kawasaki City, told Kyodo News Agency, “It is a very difficult situation because of the novel coronavirus infection (Corona 19), but my grandmother is healthy. I am happy that you are having fun every day.” Tanaka, the seventh of nine siblings from a farmhouse in Fukuoka, married her one-year-old cousin who runs a rice cake shop at the age of 19 and gave birth to the eldest son. After the Sino-Japanese War began in 1937, the husband and the eldest son were conscripted, and they took charge of the housekeeping and lived repressively. Grandma Tanaka recalled the situation at the time, “It wasn’t a man’s body, but I couldn’t just cry lightly. My body and mind became like a man, and I could do anything, such as pounding a wheel and pounding rice cakes.” In addition to his second son and step-daughter, he raised three children of relatives who died on the battlefield, and after the war in 1945, he became a Christian with his husband. After her husband, who turned 90, died in 1993, she underwent surgery for cataract (at the age of 90) and colon cancer (at the time of 103), but it is known that there is no specific chronic disease. Grandmother Tanaka has been mentioned as a runner of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics torch relay, which departed from J Village in Fukushima Prefecture on March 25 this year and traveled to 47 prefectures (regional governments) across Japan for 121 days. The Mainichi Newspaper reported in November of last year that Grandma Tanaka will use a wheelchair to deliver torches in Fukuoka, which is scheduled for May this year. In 1903, Grandma Tanaka was born, only seven years after the 1st Modern Olympics was held in Athens, Greece in 1896. In addition, in 1964, when the first Olympics were held in Tokyo, he was 61 years old. Although the Tokyo Olympic Organizing Committee has not officially announced yet, it is known that it is promoting the torch relay of Grandma Tanaka in that it can convey a positive message about longevity to the world. yunhap news