Japan’s oldest person is a 114-year-old retired doctor who carried an Olympic torch in 2021

Shigeko Kagawa holds a torch during a torch relay event for the Tokyo Olympics in Yamatokooriyama, Nara prefecture, western Japan, April 12, 2021. (Kyodo News via AP)

TOKYO — Shigeko Kagawa, a 114-year-old retired physician from Nara Prefecture, has became Japan’s oldest living person, following the death of 114-year-old Miyoko Hiroyasu, according to Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.

Kagawa, a symbol of Japan’s extraordinary longevity, graduated from medical school before World War II, served at a hospital in Osaka during the war, and later ran her family’s clinic as an obstetrician and gynecologist. She retired at 86.

At 109, Kagawa became one of the oldest torchbearers in Olympic history during the Tokyo 2021 torch relay.

She is not doing anything out of the ordinary to stay healthy, a local television MBS News said last week, quoting her family. She keeps a regular routine, going to bed and waking up at set times and she eats small portions but always has three proper meals a day.

Her predecessor as Japan’s oldest person led a similarly active life. Born in 1911, Hiroyasu studied art in Tokyo, taught in Hiroshima Prefecture and raised three children.

She died in a nursing home in Oita Prefecture, where she spent her days reading newspapers, sketching and playing card games.

“I am grateful to be healthy,” she said on her 113th birthday.

Despite an overall population decline, Japan’s elderly population continues to grow. As of September 1, 2024, a record 36 million people — 29% of the population — were aged 65 or older, the highest proportion of seniors in the world. Those aged 80 and above now make up 10% of the population, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.

There are 95,119 centenarians across the country.

The Associated Press