BIOGRAPHY

Kiku Aoyama was born in Hakodate, Hokkaido Prefecture, Japan, on 6 September 1906. At some point she got married and had nine children. When she was in her 30s, she moved to Asahikawa where her husband worked. After her husband died when she was in her fifties, she worked as a cook in a hospital in the city.

Until the age of 109, Aoyama lived alone, cooking and doing laundry as much as possible, with the occasional help of a daughter who lived nearby. She broke her leg in August 2016 and she moved into a nursing home in November 2016. According to her family and nursing home staff, she was a lovely woman who cared about those around her.

Aoyama passed away from heart failure in Asahikawa, Hokkaido Prefecture, Japan, on 12 August 2018, at the age of 111 years, 340 days.

RECOGNITION

On 22 February 2017, following the death of Nui Sonoda, she became the oldest living woman in Hokkaido Prefecture.

At the time of death, she was the second-oldest living person in Hokkaido Prefecture, after Masazo Nonaka.

Her age was verified by Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare (MHLW), as well as Ryohei Asano and Yumi Yamamoto, and validated by LongeviQuest on 2 June 2023.

ATTRIBUTION

* “最高齢は１０９歳” – Hokkaido Shimbun (Morning edition, Asahikawa/Kamikawa, page 28), 16 September 2015

* “最高齢１１０歳” – Hokkaido Shimbun (Morning edition, Asahikawa/Kamikawa, page 27), 16 September 2016

* “100歳以上　道内3126人” – Hokkaido Shimbun (Evening edition), 15 September 2017

* “111歳　道内女性最高齢” – Hokkaido Shimbun (Evening edition), 13 August 2018

* “周囲気遣う人柄　家族ら「残念」111歳、青山さん死去” – Hokkaido Shimbun (Morning edition, Asahikawa/Kamikawa), 14 August 2018

GALLERY