Career
Tajima is the 4th oldest Japanese person ever recorded (behind Misao Okawa, Tane Ikai and Jiroemon Kimura), the third oldest Japanese woman ever recorded and the longest lived person ever recorded in Kyushu. Tajima was born in Araki, an area of what was then Wan Village, in the westernmost part of Kikaijima Island, and currently resides in Kikai. As of September 2011, she had 28 grandchildren, 56 great-grandchildren and 35 great-great-grandchildren.
As of September 2015, she had over 140 descendants, including great-great-great grandchildren.
Tajima became the oldest living person in Japan on 27 September 2015, upon the death of a 115 year-old anonymous woman who was living in Tokyo.