Woman believed to be world's oldest person dies at 117 in Japan

TOKYO, April 22 (Xinhua) -- Nabi Tajima, a Japanese woman believed to have been the world's oldest person, has died at the age of 117 in southwestern Japan, local media reported Sunday.

Tajima, a resident of Kikai Island in Kagoshima prefecture, had been hospitalized since January and died from old age at the hospital on Saturday evening, said the reports.

Born in 1900, Tajima was believed to have become the world's oldest person after previous record-holder Violet Brown of Jamaica, died at 117 in September last year.

The Guinness World Records had been conducting surveys to officially recognize Tajima as the world's oldest woman since the death of Violet Brown.

The organization recognized Masazo Nonaka, a 112-year-old Japanese man residing in Japan's northernmost prefecture of Hokkaido, as the world's oldest living male earlier this month. Enditem