WHO WILL LIVE THE LONGEST?

On 9 March 2019 Kane Tanaka of Fukuoka, Japan became the oldest person on Planet Earth at the age of 116 years and 28 days.  She was born on 2 January 1903, the year the Wright Brothers first attained flight, and was the youngest of seven children (she is sitting in the middle):

Never having seen him before, at the age of 19 she married Hideo Tanaka in 1922.  They had four children and adopted a fifth child.  In 1937 he was conscripted into the Second Sino-Japanese War, leaving Kane to care for their children and mother in law, while running the family business.  A tough, stressful life, apparently, does not preclude longevity.  That's her husband to the left, and her with son.

After several life-saving operations, including for colorectal cancer, she now lives peacefully at a rest home in her home town.  A major ailment, also, did not prevent her becoming the oldest person in the world.

She now awakens at 6AM, studies math in the afternoon and beats the rest-home staff at Othello.  This is a board game that is also called Reversi.

The oldest man ever was Jiroemon Kimura from Kyoto, Japan, who is the only male ever to have been verified to reach 116.  Born in 1897, he was the last man born in the 19th century.

The oldest person ever is Jeanne Calment of France, who is confirmed to have lived to the age of 122 years and 164 days.  That is supposedly her at the age of 20.  Her longevity has, however, been questioned, for there is some suspicion that her daughter Yvonne assumed Jeanne's identity in 1934 to avoid inheritance taxes, living to the age of 99.  This story only came out this year.

So, anyway, while Japan has been dominating the "oldest" person category for some time, South Korean women could well someday enter the picture.  Not only are they easily the best female golfers today, a study in the Lancet Journal reports that women born in 2030 will have a life expectancy of 90.  French women come in second with a forecast of 88.6 years, followed by Spain and Japan.  There is only a 27% probability that men from South Korea, Australia and Switzerland will surpass 85 years for the highest future longevity.  Of the 35 countries studied, the USA is fourth from the bottom for both sexes.  The reason cited is that we were the only country on the list NOT to have universal health care.

As a blatant attempt to entice viewers, let me end with two photos and a link about South Korean women golfers.  #1 is said to be Jin Joo Hong, in the bottom shot:

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