Shigeko Kagawa, a 114-year-old retired physician from Nara Prefecture, has become Japan’s oldest living person, following the death of 114-year-old Miyoko Hiroyasu, according to Japan's Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.
Kagawa, a symbol of Japan’s extraordinary longevity, graduated from medical school before World War II, served at a hospital in Osaka during the war, and later ran her family’s clinic as an obstetrician and gynecologist. She retired at 86.
At 109, Kagawa became one of the oldest torchbearers in Olympic history during the Tokyo 2021 torch relay.
She is not doing anything out of the ordinary to stay healthy, a local television MBS News said last week, quoting her family. She keeps a regular routine, going to bed and waking up at set times and she eats small port