111-year-old recognized as oldest living man
Japanese centenarian keeps early hours, eats healthy, caregivers say
A Japanese man born months before the Wright brothers carried out the first human flight was recognized on Wednesday as the world's oldest male at the age of 111.
Sakari Momoi, a former high school principal who was born on Feb 5, 1903, received a certificate from Guinness World Records confirming the achievement.
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Sakari Momoi, a 111-year-old Japanese retired educator, holds a certificate presented by a Guinness World Records official in Tokyo on Wednesday. Kyodo News / AP |
Dressed in a black suit, white shirt and silver tie, Momoi told assembled media at the Tokyo care home where he lives that he does not plan on going anywhere - not just yet.
Asked how he felt about the record, Momoi pushed his back upright and said he wants to live longer.
"Say, another two years," he said.
Momoi bagged the title after the death in June of US citizen Alexander Imich, who was born a day earlier.
The recognition means Japan is now home to the world's oldest man and woman, with 116-year-old Misao Okawa of Osaka taking the female honors.
Except for poor hearing, Momoi is in good health and enjoys reading books, especially Chinese poetry, and sometimes practices calligraphy. He also watches sumo wrestling on television, according to the local press.
He said there is no special trick for his longevity, but his caregivers say Momoi keeps early hours and eats healthy, according to NHK public television.
He was born in Minamisoma, Fukushima, an area that was badly hit by the deadly 9.0-magnitude earthquake and tsunami in 2011 that triggered the world worst nuclear crisis in a generation.
According to Guinness, he moved to Saitama, north of Tokyo, many years ago.
Japan, known for the longevity of its people, was previously home to the oldest man ever to have lived - Jiroemon Kimura, who died in June 2013 at the age of 116.
About a quarter of Japan's population of 128 million is 65 or older.
The figure, already one of the highest proportions in the world, is expected to rise to about 40 percent in the coming decades.
Momoi is one of 54,000 centenarians in Japan. The country is the fastest aging in the world and has the highest average life expectancy - 80.2 for men and 86.6 for women.
