Guinness World Records on Tuesday recognised Masazo Nonaka, a 112-year-old Japanese national, as the world’s oldest living man.
Nonaka, who lives in a family-run hot spring inn on the northern island of Hokkaido, received a certificate from Erika Ogawa, vice president for Japan at the record-keeping organization.
The former inn owner in the town of Ashoro now likes to spend time with his family and also reads newspapers, watches TV and indulges in sweets, according to Guinness.
Nonaka was born on July 25, 1905, just months before Albert Einstein published his special theory of relativity. In 1931, Nonaka married Hatsuno and went on to have five children with her.
Nonaka has seven brothers and one sister, who live nearby in the town.
He was certified as the world’s oldest man after Francisco Nunez Olivera in Spain died in January at the age of 113.
‘`Mr Nonaka’s achievement is remarkable – he can teach us all an important lesson about the value of life and how to stretch the limits of human longevity,” said Craig Clenday, Guinness World Records’ editor-in-chief.
The world’s oldest living person is Nabi Tajima, a 117-year-old resident of the southern Japanese prefecture of Kagoshima, according to the U.S.-based Gerontology Research Group.
She was born on Aug. 4, 1900.
