Yone Minagawa

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Yone Minagawa (born January 4, 1893 in Akaike, Fukuoka Prefecture, and living in Fukuchi, Fukuoka) is a Japanese woman believed to be the world's oldest living person as of January 29, 2007, aged 114 years and 25 days (her predecessor died January 28, but it was already January 29 in Japan). She is the youngest person to hold this title since at least Carrie C. White (albeit disputed) was 114 years 25 days old on December 13, 1988. She lived alone in the Momochi apartment building in Nishijin Sawara-Ku, Fukuoka, near Seinan Gakuin University, until 2005, when she moved to Keijuen, a special nursing home in her native Akaike. After her husband died, she raised her five children by selling flowers and vegetables at a coal mine. All but one of her children have passed away, but she has six grandchildren, twelve great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren. Yone became the oldest living person in Japan when Ura Koyama died in April 2005, and the world's oldest living person with the death of American Emma Tillman in January 2007. Minagawa currently ranks as the 56th oldest person of all time. As of today, March 30, 2007, she is 114 years 85 days old.

She sometimes makes others laugh with lighthearted jokes. Minagawa loves festive occasions and attends birthday parties and other recreational events at the nursing home, staff said. She eats well every day at the cantina and reads newspapers and letters from her family. While she now spends a lot of time in bed, Minagawa is still in good spirits and enjoys joking with the staff.

She loves candy though she often gives it away. On some days she participates in club activities in a wheelchair and "dances" along to music.