Japan’s tally of centenarians hits record high

TOKYO, Sept. 16– The number of centenarians in Japan has reached a record high of 90,526 as of Thursday, the health ministry said on Friday. There were only 153 centenarians in Japan in 1963 when relevant statistics started. The oldest living person in Japan is Fusa Tatsumi, a 115- year-old woman living in Kashiwara, Osaka Prefecture.

TOKYO, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) — The number of centenarians in Japan has reached a record high of 90,526 as of Thursday, the health ministry said on Friday.

For the first time on record, over 90,000 Japanese had celebrated their 100th birthday or more. The tally increased by 4,016 from a year before, marking a record high for the 52nd consecutive year, according to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.

Around 88.6 percent, or 80,161, of those aged at 100 or older as of Thursday were women.

There were only 153 centenarians in Japan in 1963 when relevant statistics started. The figure exceeded 1,000 in 1981, 10,000 in 1998 and 50,000 in 2012.

The oldest living person in Japan is Fusa Tatsumi, a 115-year-old woman living in Kashiwara, Osaka Prefecture. The oldest man is 111-year-old Shigeru Nakamura, who lives in Jinsekikogen, Hiroshima Prefecture. Enditem