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112-yr-old Japanese recognized as world's oldest man
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Masazo Nonaka of Japan (R), aged 112, receives a certificate for the Guinness World Records' oldest male person living title from Erika Ogawa (L), vice president of Guinness World Records Japan, in Ashoro, Hokkaido prefecture on April 10, 2018. Nonaka was born on July 25, 1905. (JIJI PRESS/AFP/-)
M
asazo Nonaka, a 112-year-old Japanese man in Hokkaido was recognized as the world's oldest living male, Guinness World Records said Tuesday.
Nonaka was born in the northern Japan town of Ashoro on July 25, 1905, the year Albert Einstein published his theory of relativity.
Guinness had been trying to confirm the oldest living man after the previous title holder Yisrael Kristal of Israel died last August at 113.
Nonaka lives with his family in his home, which doubles as the more than 100-year-old hot spring inn he used to run. His wife, with whom Nonaka had two sons and three daughters, died in 1992.
As he was handed a certificate by a Guiness official at his home, a smiling Nonaka made a victory sign with his fingers and said, "Thank you".
Nonaka uses a wheelchair but does not need special care in everyday life. He reads newspapers every morning and watches sumo matches and operas on TV.
Read also: 'World's oldest man' dies in Spain aged 113
According to his granddaughter Yuko, Nonaka enjoys soaking in a hot spring once a week and indulges in sweets, especially cakes.
"Mr. Nonaka's achievement is remarkable -- he can teach us all an important lesson about the value of life and how to stretch the limits of human longevity," Craig Glenday, Guinness World Records' editor-in-chief said.
His great-grandson Koki Kurohata, 20, said, "He has not been (receiving nursing care) at a facility and has clear brain. He's really amazing."
Japan is one of the world's top countries for longevity. Nabi Tajima, a 117-year-old Japanese resident of Kagoshima Prefecture, is likely to be recognized as the world's oldest living woman, following the death of Violet Brown of Jamaica, the previous title holder who died at 117 in September.
Jiroemon Kimura, a Japanese who died in 2013 at 116, was recognized by Guinness as the longest-lived man in history.
The oldest person ever to have lived is Jeanne Calment, a French woman, who died in 1997 at age 122 years and 164 days, according to Guinness.
