Career
Okawa is the verified oldest Japanese person ever, the oldest person ever born in Asia, and the fifth oldest verified person ever recorded. Okawa was the 30th person verified to have reached age 115, the tenth verified person to reach the age of 116 and the fifth verified person to reach the age of 117. Okawa was born on 5 March 1898, the fourth daughter of a draper in the Tenma district (present-day Kita-ku) of Osaka.
From 1997, she lived at a nursing home in Higashisumiyoshi-ku, Osaka.
Her husband died on 20 June 1931 at age 36. She was able to walk until she was 110, when she began using a wheelchair to prevent falls.
She could, however, propel herself using her wheelchair. Okawa died at her nursing home residence in Higashisumiyoshi-ku, Osaka, Japan, at 6:58 am, on 1 April 2015 after suffering heart failure.
Okawa was the world"s oldest living woman since the death of 115-year-old Japanese woman Koto Okubo on 12 January 2013.
Okawa said that sushi and sleep were the reasons why she lived so lougitude On her 117th birthday, she said that her life seemed short. When asked about the secret of her longevity, she replied, jokingly, "I wonder about that too."
Following the death of Okawa, American woman Gertrude Weaver became the world"s oldest living person, but she died five days later.
