Masu Usui (臼井ます), the oldest living person in Japan’s Shizuoka Prefecture, celebrated her 114th birthday on 18 December. She is currently the 5th-oldest living person in Japan and the 12th-oldest living person in the world.

Mrs. Usui was born in Oyama, Shizuoka Prefecture, on 18 December 1910, as the second of seven siblings born to a rice shop owner. Her eldest sister lived to be 105 years old, and her youngest brother lived into his 90s. After graduating from elementary school, she went on to an all-girls’ school in Tokyo, where she lived for several years.

She then returned to Oyama, got married, and raised six children. Mrs. Usui took good care of the employees of the company her husband ran, while also working hard to raise her children. After World War II, she rented a field to grow crops such as sweet potatoes, allowing her to make homemade snacks for her children when they came home from school. She was a skilled cook and made lots of Japanese sweets such as yokan and Western sweets such as donuts, which she also gave to people in the neighborhood. She enjoyed cooking for her children when they came home with their friends after they had left home.

Mrs. Usui had no major medical history throughout her life, and when she broke her hip at the age of 102, she underwent surgery under general anesthesia and was able to walk again after recovering.  As of July 2024, although she has had difficulty walking since her second fracture at the age of 106, she is able to move around independently using her wheelchair. Recently, she has taken delight in singing classic Japanese pop songs.

Following Kahoru Furuya’s passing on 25 December 2022, Mrs. Usui became the oldest living person in Shizuoka Prefecture, shortly after her 112th birthday.

On 7 August 2024, Mrs. Usui was visited by LongeviQuest representatives Yumi Yamamoto and Ben Meyers, to whom she was able to sing the U. K. national anthem. Below, you can watch the video from this visit on our YouTube channel.

LongeviQuest extends our congratulations to Mrs. Usui on this extraordinary milestone. We hope she enjoyed a joyful birthday celebration in good health and happiness. We sincerely thank her family for graciously granting our team the privilege of meeting Mrs. Usui in person last August and for sharing the new photos and videos from her birthday. We send our heartfelt wishes for her continued health, joy, and well-being.