BIOGRAPHY

Masakichi Kajita was born in Japan on 26 October 1903. He had children at some point.

Kajita opened a bakery in Kobe City, Hyōgo Prefecture, in 1932. At some point, he became the chairman of the Kobe City Bakery Association. He invented a new type of curry bread, which he sold at his bakery, and it became well-known locally. The bread was square instead of round, which is the norm in Japan. He mentioned that he created the new style to reduce ingredient waste. In 2010, a news article about the bread was published, including an interview with his son Shiro, who was 75 years old at the time and was running the bakery.

Masakichi Kajita passed away in Kobe, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, on 8 September 2014, at the age of 110 years, 317 days.

RECOGNITION

Kajita was visited by the mayor in celebration of Respect for the Aged Day and was awarded congratulatory gifts and a letter on two occasions, once in 2011 and again in 2013.

On 17 March 2012, following the death of 109-year-old Ryūji Furuya of Amagasaki, he became the oldest living man in Hyōgo Prefecture.

At the time of his death, he was the third-oldest living man in Japan, behind Yasutaro Koide and Sakari Momoi. Upon his passing, Asakichi Okada of Awaji succeeded him as the oldest living man in Hyōgo Prefecture.

His age was verified by Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare (MHLW), as well as Yumi Yamamoto and Stefan Maglov, and validated by LongeviQuest on 11 December 2023.

ATTRIBUTION

* “（パーンとスイーツ）カレーパン「もったいない」から生まれた形【大阪】” – Asahi Shimbun (Osaka evening edition), 27 October 2010

* “県内男性最高齢 梶田さんが死去＝兵庫” – Yomiuri Shimbun, 9 September 2014

GALLERY