Kane Tanaka, the world’s oldest person, died in Japan at 119 years old.Japan's Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare released a public statement announcing Tanaka's death. She died April 19. She was born on Jan. 2, 1903. She was born before the Wright brothers’ first powered flight and died as the world's second-oldest person ever, according to Guinness World Records.
Tanaka's cause of death was unknown, although her family said in a tweet earlier in April that she had been in and out of hospital. She twice survived cancer and lived through two pandemics: the Spanish flu and COVID-19. Tanaka celebrated her 119th birthday in Japan in January. Tanaka's family said at the time that she intended to live another year to reach her 120th birthday, further bolstering her feat in the Guinness Book of Records. It began tallying her age in March 2019, when she had turned 116. Guinness World Records tweeted: "She became the oldest living person in January 2019 at the age of 116 years and 28 days. She is also the second oldest person ever recorded, behind only Jeanne Calment who lived to the age of 122