The First Man to Celebrate His 116th Birthday

If anyone told you there is (not was) any man alive who has seen a century, you would perhaps wave it off because you know a certain great grandmother in the village who lived till a hundred years. But, if you were told there is a man who has seen over three centuries and still draws a breath?. That is one awesome record!.

Jiroemon Kimura, is the first man to reach the age of 116 on Friday, April 19, 2013. A Japanese by origin, he was born on April 19, 1897 in the fishing village of Kamiukawa, to farmers Morizo and Fusa Miyake.

 A retired postman (retired at the age of 65) and farmer (stopped at the age of 90), he became the oldest person alive in Japan after the death of Tomoji Tanabe on June 19, 2009, the oldest person alive upon the death of Walter Breuning in April 14, 2011, and the oldest person alive in Japan after the death of Chiyono Hasegawa on December 2, 2011.

When Korea was still a colony of the Empire of Japan in the 1920s, he worked as a government communications worker, after which he returned home to marry Yae Kimura (1904-1978), his neighbour. Born Kinjiro Miyake, he renamed himself Jiroemon Kimura since his wife's family lacked a male heir. He has 7 children (5 still alive), 15 grandchildren (14 alive), 25 great-grandchildren and 14 great-great-grandchildren. Can you imagine that?!

He has lived in the reigns of 4 emperors, and during the premierships of 61 Japanese Prime Ministers, from Matsukata Masayoshi to Shinzo Abe.

Guinness World Records has certified Mr Kimura as the world's oldest living person and the oldest living man. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe even sent a video message to Mr Kimura that "it is absolutely amazing" to have his two records. The mayor of Kyotango City in western Japan where Mr Kimura lives also dropped by for a visit.

Japan is also home to the world's oldest living woman, Misao Okawa, who is 115 years old.