With the cooperation of the City of Yokohama, LongeviQuest was grateful for the opportunity to speak with the family of Aki Hakii (波木井アキ) of Yokohama City, Kanagawa Prefecture. Through this conversation, we were able to learn more about her life, her role within the community, and the steady habits that have supported her long life.
As of September 2025, Hakii was recognized as Yokohama’s second-oldest woman and, within Kanagawa Prefecture, as one of four women aged 111.
Early Life and Education
Hakii was born on 9 September 1914 as the eldest of six siblings. From an early age, she enjoyed studying and was known as a diligent student. After graduating from elementary school, she advanced to Tsurumi Girls High School, where she consistently ranked near the top of her class.
Around 20 years old. (Source: Image courtesy of Mrs. Hakii’s family).
Marriage and Family Life
After graduating from high school, she helped at her family’s sake brewery and later married in her early 20s. She was blessed with four children, one son and three daughters.
She was skilled with her hands and enjoyed both Western sewing and traditional Japanese dressmaking. She made matching dresses for her younger sisters and tailored suits for her husband.
Around age 25, shortly after her marriage, Hakii appears in the back row holding a baby in this family photo taken in front of her family’s sake brewery. Several of her younger sisters are wearing matching dresses that Hakii handmade. (Source: Image courtesy of Mrs. Hakii’s family)
Aged 58 in 1973, with her husband. (Source: Image courtesy of Mrs. Hakii’s family).
Service to the Community and National Recognition
Although quiet and calm by nature, Hakii became someone many people depended on in the community. After her children were grown, she began participating in community activities at her husband’s encouragement, first through PTA and the local children’s association, and later through groups such as the senior citizens club and the neighborhood association. As a community welfare commissioner, she also visited people living alone to check on their well-being and offer support, a responsibility through which she earned deep trust in her community. In 1989, at the age of 74, her years of service were recognized with the Minister of Health and Welfare Award.
In 1989, aged 74, while receiving the Minister of Health and Welfare Award. (Source: Image courtesy of Mrs. Hakii’s family).
Daily Life and Personal Interests
She loved wearing kimono and, until the age of 92, wore them for outings and special occasions such as meals and family gatherings.
At the age of 99, Hakii began living with her third daughter. Until the age of 106, she enjoyed short walks in her neighborhood with her daughter’s support. Until around the age of 109, she carefully kept a daily diary and household account book and continued her habit of reading the newspaper thoroughly with the help of a magnifying glass. Today, at 111, she continues to live at home. With support from visiting care staff, she still enjoys bathing in her own bathtub.
Health Changes and Life Today
According to her family, Hakii was not someone known for having a particularly robust constitution, and even in middle age she sometimes experienced lightheadedness. Even so, she maintained her routines carefully and consistently, continuing daily habits at her own steady pace.
Aged 99. (Source: Image courtesy of Mrs. Hakii’s family).
Throughout 2024, her physical condition declined, and she spent much of the year in a weakened state. In 2025, her strength gradually began to return. However, during the summer of that year, she developed a fever and experienced another setback. After her birthday in September, her condition slowly improved once again. Since then, she has continued to recover.
She now spends her days at home, often talking about memories from earlier years and singing together with visiting care staff and family members.
On her 111th birthday celebration with her daughters. (Source: Image courtesy of Mrs. Hakii’s family).
A Life Defined by Responsibility and Warmth
Her family does not point to any specific secret behind her longevity. Instead, they describe her as someone marked by sincerity, a strong sense of responsibility, and a meticulous nature, qualities that have shaped the way she has lived each day. Today, she continues to spend her days warmly with her daughters and the visiting care staff who support her at home.
LongeviQuest extends our sincere appreciation to the City of Yokohama and to Mrs. Hakii’s family for their cooperation in this interview, and we sincerely wish her continued good health in the years ahead.
