- The Guinness World Records organization recognized a 116-year-old Japanese woman as the world’s oldest living person.
- Kane Tanaka, who lives in a nursing home in Fukuoka, Japan, accepted the award alongside her family.
- She enjoys studying math, waking up at 6 a.m., and loves the strategy board game Othello.
- Tanaka still has another six years to go until she breaks the all-time record for oldest living person, which is held by the (now deceased) Jeanne Louise Calment, who lived to 122 years.
The world has a new reigning champion in the age category.
Kane Tanaka, of Fukuoka, Japan, has just been crowned the oldest person on the planet by Guinness World Records.
At 116 years, 66 days old, the woman was confirmed as the record-holder by the organization on March 9. Her family, and local mayor, accompanied her during the award ceremony.
Tanaka was born on January 2, 1903, the same year the Wright brothers achieved powered flight.
Tanaka celebrated her achievement with panache
The new reigning champion wakes up at 6 a.m., and often studies math in the afternoon, according to Guinness World Records. One of Tanaka's favorite pastimes is Othello, a strategy board game. She often beats staff members at the rest home where she now lives.
Having survived several surgeries — one for cataracts and another for colorectal cancer — Tanaka is now living her best life.
During the presentation ceremony, according to Guiness World Records, someone gave her a box of chocolates.
Tanaka immediately opened it and started eating.
Later, when she was asked how many chocolates she wanted to eat that day, she replied: "100."
She needs to live at least another 6 years to claim the all-time record
The prior record holder for oldest living person was Chiyo Miyako, also from Japan, who died in July 2018 at age 117. The record holder before Miyako was also Japanese, according to the Associated Press.
People from Japan tend to take top honors on the world's oldest person list, the Associated Press reported. Japanese citizens' diets tend to include fish, rice, vegetables, and other foods with low fat content, and people stay active well into their 80s.
The world's oldest man, Masazo Nonaka, was also Japanese. The 113-year-old, who ate sweets and soaked in hot springs once a week, died in January.
But Kane Tanaka needs to see the 2025 in order to break the all-time record — which is actually held by a European woman.
Jeanne Louise Calment of France currently holds the title for oldest person ever in history, with a final age of 122.
So Japan's Othello-playing champion needs to live another six years to beat Calment's record.