Oldest person dies at 114

Mitoyo Kawate, reputed to be the world's oldest person, died in Hiroshima yesterday at the age of 114, less than two weeks after taking over the title from another Japanese woman.

Kawate survived her exposure to radiation from the 1945 atomic bombing of Hiroshima, worked on her farm until the age of 99 and spent her last 10 years at a nursing home.

Guinness World Records listed Kawate as the world's oldest person whose date of birth can be fully authenticated after Kamato Hongo died of pneumonia at 116 in southern Japan on October 31.

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