Japanese woman, aged 116, set to become world's oldest person

A 116-year-old Japanese woman who used to be a mountaineer is set to be named the world's oldest person by Guinness World Records, a research group said on Wednesday, following the death of a 117-year-old Spanish woman earlier this week.

Tomiko Itooka, who was born on May 23, 1908, lives in the western Japanese city of Ashiya, the U.S.-based Gerontology Research Group said.

She is next in line for the title of world's oldest person after Maria Branyas Morera died in a Spanish nursing home on Monday, according to the group.


Itooka, a mother-of-three, was born in the year when a long-distance radio message was sent from the Eiffel Tower for the first time, and when the Wright Brothers made their first public flights in Europe and America.

In her 70s, Itooka often went climbing and twice scaled Japan's 3,067-metre (10,062-ft) Mount Ontake - surprising her guide by climbing the mountain in sneakers instead of hiking boots, the research group said.

At the age of 100, she walked up the lengthy stone steps of Japan's Ashiya Shrine without using a cane, the group added. (Reporting by Mariko Katsumura; Editing by Helen Popper)