Chiyo Matsuura

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BIOGRAPHY

Matsuura was born in Japan on 2 January 1912. At some point, she had children.

In January 2011, at the age of 99, Matsuura suffered a stroke but made a full recovery after receiving prompt treatment and undergoing rehabilitation. Later that year, she was visited by city officials who presented her with two congratulatory letters in celebration of Respect for the Aged Day—one from then-Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and another from the city mayor.

In 2013, at the age of 101, she visited daycare twice a week. She would wait for her caregivers to arrive outside her house in the chilling Hokkaido cold before getting into the car by herself with the assistance of her cane. On her better days, she went for walks around the neighborhood. In 2015, at the age of 103, she was still able to walk independently with the aid of her walker.

Chiyo Matsuura passed away in Asahikawa City, Hokkaido Prefecture, Japan, on 30 January 2023, at the age of 111 years, 28 days.

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RECOGNITION

Matsuura was first known to researchers during Keiro no hi (Respect for the Aged Day) in September 2020, but the first time she was noted for her longevity was a blog post about her 102nd birthday in 2014.

Matsuura’s grandson, Kouta, would post on Facebook on her birthday every year from 2020 to 2023. In 2022, he congratulated her for living in five Japanese eras (Meiji, Taishō, Shōwa, Heisei, and Reiwa).

In September 2022, she was reported as the sixth-oldest living person in Hokkaido Prefecture.

Her age was verified by Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare (MHLW), as well as Yu Li, Bogdan Solyanikov, and Takehiro Shibuya, and validated by LongeviQuest on 4 December 2023.