Misao Okawa the woman who has been named as the oldest person alive in the Guinness Book of world records has died at the age of 117 years.
Misao died early Wednesday at a nursing home where she lived and where she reportedly breathed her last.
She died of heart failure and stopped breathing as her grandson and nursing home workers stood by her side, praising her for achieving a healthy long life, said Tomohiro Okada, an official at her Osaka nursing home.
Misao Okawa, died a month after celebrating her 117th birthday.
On the occasion of her birthday early last month, Okawa, a mother of three, grandmother of four and great-grandmother of six, was one of only a handful of people still alive who had been born in the 19th century.
Born in 1898, Okawa was recognized by Guinness as the oldest living woman in February 2013 at 114 and as the oldest living person in August the same year at 115.
She was already a teenager when World War I broke out and in her 70s by the time of the first moon landing. When she turned 114, she was officially recognised by Guinness World Records as the oldest woman in the globe.
Japan, known for the longevity of its people, is home to the world’s oldest man — Sakari Momoi, who celebrated his 112th birthday in February.
In 2013, life expectancy for women in Japan was 86.61, the longest in the world followed by Hong Kong women, according to the health ministry.
For men it was 80.21, the fourth longest, after men in Hong Kong, Iceland and Switzerland.
The world’s oldest person is now believed to be American Gertrude Weaver, who is reportedly 116
