Career
Izumi drank brown sugar shōchū (a Japanese alcoholic beverage often distilled from barley or rice), and took up smoking at age 70. After a brief hospitalization, Izumi died of pneumonia at 21:15 Japan Science and Technology Agency on February 21, 1986. Izumi was the longest holder of the "oldest living person" title.
He was one of only two people (the other being Jeanne Calment) verified to have lived past their 120th birthday, although subsequent research has discounted the verification.
In April 1987, 14 months after Izumi"s death, the Department of Epidemiology at the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology reported that research into Izumi"s family registration records indicated Izumi might have been 105 when he died. The oldest undisputed case of male longevity is Jiroemon Kimura (also from Japan.
Lived April 19, 1897–June 12, 2013), who died at age 116 years and 54 days.
