The
world's oldest person, and the oldest man in recorded history, has died in
western Japan at the age of 116.
Japanese
officials say Jiroemon Kimura died Wednesday of natural causes in a hospital
near Kyoto where he had been receiving treatment for pneumonia.
Guinness
World Records says Kimura, who was born in 1897, is the world's only man to
have lived to 116 years of age. It recognized him as the world's oldest living
person in December, after a U.S. woman died at the age of 115.
Kimura,
who worked at a post office and later was a farmer, is survived by seven
children, 14 grandchildren, 25 great-grandchildren, and 15
great-great-grandchildren.
Media
reports say he attributed his longetivity to getting outside in the sunlight
and eating meals until he was only 80 percent full.
With
Kimura's death, 115-year-old Misao Okawa, a Japanese woman from Osaka, is now
the world's oldest person.