Misao Okawa, born in 1898, is said to be in remarkably good health and says she is ‘very happy’ to be 117

The year Misao Okawa was born, Queen Victoria was on the British throne and the Spanish-American war was in its infancy. She married almost a century ago and has been a widow for more than 80 years.



Okawa, the world’s oldest person, celebrated her 117th birthday at a nursing home in Osaka, western Japan, this week, and despite her longevity she remarked how short her life seemed.

Born in Osaka’s Tenma district in 1898, Okawa married in 1919. Her husband, Yukio, died in 1931. Their marriage produced two daughters and a son, and Okawa has four grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

At a televised event on Wednesday, a day before her birthday, she disappointed any who hoped she would reveal the secret to a long life. “Well, I wonder about that too,” she said.

On her 116th birthday, Okawa attributed her longevity to plenty of sleep and a varied diet. While she has spoken of her love of mackerel sushi, which she eats at least once a month, Okawa says she is not particularly fussy when it comes to food.

Family and friends say she is in remarkably good health, apart from slight trouble with her hearing. Among those who visited Okawa were her eldest son, Hiroshi, 92, and her two-year-old great-grandchild.

Okawa, dressed in a cherry-blossom-print pale pink kimono, her hair decorated with a pink daisy pin, looked up from her wheelchair and said she was “very happy” to be 117.

Takehiro Ogura, an Osaka government official, brought her a bouquet and wished her many happy returns. When he asked how she felt about the past 117 years, she replied: “It seemed rather short.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Misao Okawa receives a bouquet. Photograph: Buddhika Weerasinghe/Getty

Okawa’s life spans three centuries, which have included six British monarchs, four Japanese emperors and 20 US presidents. She was five when the Wright brothers achieved the first powered flight.

Okawa became the world’s oldest person in June 2013 following the death at 116 of fellow Japanese Jiroemon Kimura, and is one of only a handful of people alive today who were born in the 19th century.

In Japan, the supercentenarian – a term for people aged at least 110 – won’t be lost for company if she ever feels like reminiscing about events from early last century. The world’s oldest man, Sakari Momoi, who turned 112 last month, was born in Fukushima prefecture and now lives at a care home in Tokyo. He stays healthy and alert by eating well and practising calligraphy, according to his family.

Japan is home to more than 58,000 people aged 100 or over, according to government figures, 87% of whom are women. The country’s elderly population is expected to soar in the coming decades. About a quarter of its 127 million people are 65 or over, and the proportion is expected to grow to about 40% by the middle of the century.

Experts attribute Japan’s longevity statistics to a traditional low-fat diet, affordable healthcare and generous pensions. In 2013, life expectancy for Japanese women was 86.6 years, the highest in the world, and for men it was 80.2 years, the fourth highest, according to the health ministry.