Jan. 4 (UPI) -- Tomiko Itooka, the woman recognized as the world's oldest living person, has died in Japan at the age of 116.
Itooka's death in late December was confirmed by Britain's Guinness World Records.
This past September, the record-keeping publication honored Itooka as the world's oldest living person, after the death of Spain's Maria Branyas Morera.
The title now passes to Inah Canabarro Lucas, a 116-year-old Brazilian nun born 16 days after Itooka. Both women were born in May of 1908, the same year the Ford Motor Company launched its Model T car gas-powered car.
Itooka died on Sunday at the care home she had been living at for the last five years, in the city of Ashiya.
"Ms Itooka gave us courage and hope through her long life," the city's mayor, Ryosuke Takashima said in a statement.
Itooka was born in Osaka, the second of three children.
She married at the age of 20 and had two sons and two daughters.
She later moved to the Nara Prefecture on the Japanese island of Honshu following the death of her husband in 1979 where she lived alone.
In addition to holding the title of oldest-living person, Itooka is also one of the oldest ages ever verified and recorded according to Guinness World Records.
Japan has an aging population, with more than 95,000 people 100 years of age or older as of September. Of that figure, 88% are women.
