Kane Tanaka is the oldest person on the planet (Picture: AP)

The oldest person alive is celebrating her 117th birthday today by tucking into a bowl of strawberries and cream.

Kane Tanaka, from Japan, was born prematurely on January 2 1903 – the same year the Wright brothers first achieved powered flight.

She was confirmed as the oldest person on the planet last year by the Guinness World Records.

Mrs Tanaka is still five years shy of the record for oldest person ever but is in good health and still regularly beats her care home staff at board games.


Kane Tanaka enjoyed a bowl of strawberries and cream to mark her 117th birthday (Picture: AP)

The supercentenarian was the seventh child of Kumakichi and Kuma Ota and married four days after her 19th birthday.



As was traditional at the time in Japan, she did not meet husband Hideo Tanaka before their wedding day on January 6 1922.

The couple ran a business called Tanaka Mochiya, which made and sold sticky rice, Zenzai (a type of Japanese sweets), and Udon noodles.

Mrs Tanaka took on a larger role within the firm when her husband was called up for military service in 1937 during the Second Sino-Japanese War.

The couple, who lived in Fukuoka Prefecture, had four children and adopted a fifth during their marriage.

She now has five grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.

Mr Tanaka and their eldest son Nobuo were killed in the Second World War and Mrs Tanaka carried on running the family firm until retiring aged 63.

At 117, Kane Tanaka still has to live another five years to become the oldest person ever to walk the planet (Picture: AP)

The 117-year-old normally wakes up at 6am and in the afternoon often studies maths or calligraphy.

One of her favourite past times is the classic board game Othello and she regularly beats staff at the rest home in Fukuoka where she lives.

She has credited family, sleep and hope as her secrets for longevity and two years ago said she would like to live until at least 120 years old.

Mrs Tanaka’s family said she has a strong appetite and enjoys soda and sweets.

Last year during a ceremony to mark officially being named the world’s oldest person, she immediately began tucking into a box of chocolates sent as a gift.

When she was asked how many chocolates she wanted to eat that day, she replied ‘100.’

Kane Tanaka (centre front) is pictured with her brothers and sisters and husband Hideo (top left corner) (Picture: AP)

Japan is one of the world’s top countries for longevity.

Jiroemon Kimura, a Japanese who died in 2013 at 116, was recognised by Guinness as the longest-lived man in history.

The oldest person ever to have lived was French woman, Jeanne Louise Calment, who lived until she was 122.

The second oldest person alive is Lucille Randon, who is also from France and was born on February 11 1904.

The oldest living man is Japan’s Chitetsu Watanabe, who will turn 113 on March 5.