Oldest woman dies at age 114

TOKYO – Yone Minagawa, who became the world’s oldest person earlier this year, has died at a nursing home in southwestern Japan, an official said today. She was 114.

Minagawa, who raised four sons and a daughter on her own by peddling flowers and vegetables, died of old age Monday, said Toshiro Tachibana, an official at the nursing home in Fukuchi, 520 miles southwest of Tokyo.

Born on Jan. 4, 1893, Minagawa was named the world’s oldest person by the Guinness Book of World Records in January after the death of Emma Faust Tillman, also 114, in the United States.

Minagawa outlived all of her children except one daughter, and had seven grandchildren, 12 great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren, according to the nursing home.

Japan has one of the world’s longest average life spans – a factor often attributed to a healthy diet rich in fish and rice.