Misao Okawa’s 115th Birthday.

Do you know what happened in 1898?

Let me give you a hand.

North Petherton became the first town in Britain to have street lights lit by acetylene gas.

Marrie and Pierre Curie announced discovery of a substance they call radium.

Robert Allison became a first person to purchase an American-built automobile when he bought a Winton automobile.

The British government made a 99 year rent of Honk-Kong from China.

And in Japan, on March 5, Misao Okawa was born.

She is now the world’s oldest woman. Last week she celebrated her 115th birthday. Amazing!

Sounds almost impossible, yet not so uncommon in Japan, where life expectancy is way higher than in any other country. The oldest person in the world is Jiroemon Kimura who lives in Kyoto.

As my students at Smith’s Katsura (スミス英会話 桂) often point out, healthy diet and good care of your body is the key. I completely agree. My diet habits changed a lot since I moved to Japan and exercising is now part of my daily routine.

Let’s see how close I’ll get to Misao Okawa‘s record.

By the way, she celebrated her birthday by eating her favourite ‘mackerel sushi’.

Congratulations!