Passes away world oldest man

Sakari Momoi, who was recognised as the world’s oldest man and credited healthy eating and getting plenty of sleep for his longevity, has died at the age of 112, Japanese media said on Tuesday.

Momoi was born near Fukushima in February 1903, the year the teddy bear was introduced and Orville Wright carried out the first powered, heavier-than-air flight.

The supercentenarian died of kidney failure in a care home in Tokyo where he had lived for many years.

“We heard from his family... that his health worsened one or two weeks ago,” a local official said.

Named the world’s oldest man in August 2014, Momoi, a former teacher who spent his days practising calligraphy and taking part in recreational activities at the hospital where he lived, donned a suit and tie for a ceremony to receive a plaque from Guinness World Records.

“I want to live two more years,” he said at the time.

The world’s oldest man is now likely to be Japanese Yasutaro Koide, born in March 1903, a little over a month younger than Momoi. US resident Susannah Mushatt Jones, 116, is the world’s oldest person.