The world's oldest man, a Japanese citizen, died Tuesday at
the age of 112 after suffering chronic heart problems, officials said.
Yasutaro Koide had said his secret to a long life was not to
smoke, drink or overdo it.
Koide, who was born on March 13, 1903, died two months short
of his 113th birthday.
In the year he was born, the Wright brothers made their
historic first flight in Kitty Hawk, N.C., and a modernizing Japan was
embroiled in a dispute with Russia over Manchuria that would erupt into the Russo-Japanese
War in early 1904.
Koide (pronounced "Ko-ee-deh") worked as a tailor
when he was younger. He was recognized by Guinness World Records as the world's
oldest man last August.
The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare said he died at a
hospital in Nagoya, central Japan, where he had been treated for heart
problems.
Japan's oldest man is now Masamitsu Yoshida, a 111-year-old
Tokyo native who was born on May 30, 1904. It was not immediately known whether
Yoshida is also the world's oldest male.
Japan, a rapidly aging country, has more than 61,000
centenarians, according to the nation's family registration records. Nearly 90%
are women.
The world's oldest person is an American woman, 116-year-old
Susannah Mushatt Jones of Brooklyn.
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