BIOGRAPHY

Mina Kitagawa was born in Echigawa (now Aisho), Shiga prefecture, Japan on 3 November 1905. Her father was a farmer, and her husband worked for Japanese National Railways. They moved from one place to another due to his job, before eventually settling in Hikone, Shiga, where they rented about 2,500 square meters of land to grow rice and vegetables.

Kitagawa continued to work as a farmer until she was 100 years old. In 2017, she moved into a nursing home in Hikone, Shiga. She reportedly enjoyed knitting and handcrafts, and her favorite food was beef.

Kitagawa died on 19 December 2020 at the age of 115 years, 46 days.

RECOGNITION

Kitagawa was the oldest living person in Shiga Prefecture since the death of 111-year-old Shige Kitagawa on 13 September 2014. She has held the title of the oldest living person in the Shiga prefecture for 6 years and 97 days. Following the death of Shin Matsushita on 27 August 2019, she became the third-oldest living person in Japan (behind Kane Tanaka and Shigeyo Nakachi).

On 15 February 2019, Kitagawa became the oldest person ever documented from Shiga Prefecture after breaking the previous record of 113 years, 103 days set by Niwa Kawamoto in 1976.

At the time of her death on 19 December 2020 at the age of 115 years, 46 days, Kitagawa was one of the top-60 oldest people of all-time whose age has been validated by the GRG. She was also the oldest validated person to die in 2020.

ATTRIBUTION

GALLERY