World's Oldest Person Dies in Japan at 116

The world's oldest person, and the oldest man in recorded history, has died in western Japan at the age of 116.

 

Japanese officials say Jiroemon Kimura died Wednesday of natural causes in a hospital near Kyoto where he had been receiving treatment for pneumonia.

 

Guinness World Records says Kimura, who was born in 1897, is the world's only man to have lived to 116 years of age. It recognized him as the world's oldest living person in December, after a U.S. woman died at the age of 115.

 

Kimura, who worked at a post office and later was a farmer, is survived by seven children, 14 grandchildren, 25 great-grandchildren, and 15 great-great-grandchildren.

 

Media reports say he attributed his longetivity to getting outside in the sunlight and eating meals until he was only 80 percent full.

With Kimura's death, 115-year-old Misao Okawa, a Japanese woman from Osaka, is now the world's oldest person.