The demise of the oldest person in the world

World's oldest person, Yone Minagawa, dies

TOKYO (AP) - Yone Minagawa, who became the world's oldest person earlier this year, has died at a nursing home in southwestern Japan, an official said Tuesday. She was 114.

Minagawa, who raised four sons and a daughter on her own by peddling flowers and vegetables, died Monday afternoon, said Toshiro Tachibana, an official at the nursing home in the former mining town of Fukuchi.

The attending physician gave old age as the cause of death, he said.

"Her appetite had been declining recently and her energy fading, so the family had asked us to make her as comfortable as possible. The death was not sudden,'' Tachibana said.

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

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

Yone Minagawa receives the certificate identified as the world's oldest person by the Guinness Book of World Records at Fukuchi town in Fukuoka Prefecture (State), southwestern Japan in July, 2007. Minagawa died at a nursing home in southwestern Japan, a home official said Tuesday, Aug. 14, 2007. She was 114
Japan has one of the world's longest average life spans - a factor often attributed to a healthy diet rich in fish and rice.

The world's oldest man is also Japanese - Tomoji Tanabe, 111, born on Sept. 18, 1895.

Tanabe lives in the southern city of Miyazaki, according to Guinness World Records.

In 2006, Japanese women set a new record for life expectancy at 85.81 years, while men live an average of about 79 years.

The number of Japanese living beyond 100 has almost quadrupled in the past 10 years and is soon expected to surpass 28,000, the government announced last September.

There are more active centenarians than before, and the rapidly graying population is adding to concerns over Japan's overburdened public pension system.

Fukuchi is about 840 kilometers (520 miles) southwest of Tokyo.

(Taken from The Star Newspaper 14/08/2007)

The debate here:

1.It is good to live that long?
2.If you have the choice, do you want to live that long?

My answer:

1. Well, if I am able to live everyday to the fullest, why not?
2. Yes and No.

How about you?