Japan centenarians rise to record high



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REUTERS
An active lifestyle and spartan diet have helped make Okinawa home to one of the highest percentages of centenarians in the world - 39.5 per 100 000 residents.
Tokyo - The number of Japanese aged 100 or older is expected to reach 47 756, up 3 307 from a year earlier, for the 41st straight year of increase, the government said on Tuesday.
The number of those turning 100 in the current financial year through March 31, 2012, is estimated at 24 952, up 1 683 from the previous year, a health ministry survey showed.
Japan's oldest person is Chiyono Hasegawa, a 114-year-old woman on the southern island of Kyushu. Hasegawa was born November 20, 1896, the year the first modern Olympics were held in Athens, Greece.
Jirouemon Kimura,114, is recognised as the world's oldest man by Guinness World Records. He was born on April 19, 1897. - Sapa-dpa

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