Shigechiyo Izumi - Death and Controversy Over Age

Death and Controversy Over Age

After a brief hospitalization, Izumi died of pneumonia at 21:15 Japan Standard Time (JST) on February 21, 1986. Izumi was the longest holder of the "oldest living person" title. He was thought to be one of only two people (the other being Jeanne Calment) verified to have lived past their 120th birthday, although subsequent research has discounted this claim. In April 1987, 14 months after Izumi's death, the Department of Epidemiology at the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology reported that research into Izumi's family registration records indicated Izumi might have died at the age of 105. Also in the Guinness World Records Book 2011, it states that "The birth certificate submitted as evidence might actually belong to his older brother, who died at a young age; if the family used Izumi as a 'necronym'—that is, gave him his dead brother's name, as the new research suggests—this means his final age was 105 years old, not 120."

The oldest undisputed case of male longevity is that of Christian Mortensen (1882–1998), who died at the age of 115 years and 252 days. The oldest Japanese man ever whose age is undisputed, is Jiroemon Kimura (1897-) who is 7002115000000000000115 years, 7002222000000000000222 days.