She lived on earth for 114 years. But, alas, her mortal coil has unwound.


A cheerful Yone Minagawa before she passed away

Yone Minagawa, a Japanese woman considered as the world’s oldest person, died Monday at age 114, reports said.

Minagawa, a widow who lived in a nursing home but was still sprightly late in life, died “of old age,” meaning she was not stricken by any disease at all.

What a lucky old woman!

Born on Jan. 4, 1893, Minagawa was already in her 50s when Japan surrendered in World War II.

She had been certified as the world’s oldest person by the Guinness Book of World Records after Emma Faust Tillman, the daughter of freed American slaves, died in January.

Despite her advanced age, Minagawa was said to enjoy eating sweets and counted eating well and getting a good night’s sleep as the secrets of her longevity.

Her nursing home said Minagawa had celebrated becoming the world’s oldest person earlier this year with a Western-style lunch of bread, stew, salad and a dessert.

Japanese women are the world’s oldest living people, in what experts attribute to a traditionally healthy diet and high standard of medical care.

Their life expectancy was a record 85.81 years in 2006, according to the government.

Japanese men are the world’s second oldest with a life expectancy of 78.8 second only to men in Iceland who on average live to be 79.4.

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