116-Yr-Old Japanese Woman to be Termed World’s Oldest Person by Guinness World Records

Tomiko Itooka, a 116-year-old Japanese woman is set to be named the world’s oldest person by Guinness World Records following the death of a 117-year-old Spanish woman earlier this week.

Itooka, born on May 23, 1908, lives in the western Japanese city of Ashiya. She used to be a mountaineer.

Maria Branyas Morera, who was the oldest living person, died at the age of 117 years in a Spanish nursing home on Monday. Itooka, a mother-of-three, was born in the year when the Wright Brothers made their first public flights in Europe and America.

In her 70s, Itooka often went climbing and twice scaled Japan’s 3,067-metre (10,062-ft) Mount Ontake wearing sneakers instead of hiking boots. At the age of 100, she walked up the lengthy stone steps of Japan’s Ashiya Shrine without using a cane.