Supercentenarian Profile

Shin Matsushita

Born:

1904-03-30

Sendai, Miyagi

Japan

Died:

2019-08-27

Sendai, Miyagi

Japan

✔ Age Certified by LongeviQuest

Shin Matsushita [Japanese: 松下しん] was a Japanese supercentenarian whose age was validated by the Gerontology Research Group (GRG). At the time of her death, she was the oldest known living person in Miyagi prefecture, and the second-oldest known living person in Japan, behind Kane Tanaka.

BIOGRAPHY

Shin Matsushita was born in Sendai City, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan, on March 30, 1904. She worked at post offices in Sendai and Ishinomaki before marrying at the age of 27, and the couple had three daughters. A devout Christian, she dedicated herself to volunteer work transcribing religious books and other materials into Braille from her sixties through her nineties. Her hobby was calligraphy.

At the age of 107, she still enjoyed reading and corresponding without glasses, taking pleasure in reading printed text every day. Even at 114, she looked forward to receiving weekly picture postcards from her eldest daughter (then 85) and was able to read them herself. She said that chewing her food well, eating everything without preferences, and avoiding stress were her secrets to longevity.

She fractured her femur one week before her 111th birthday in 2015 and afterward made a habit of exercising her legs.

Matsushita was hospitalized at the end of May 2016 due to a bout of pneumonia and heart failure but was able to recuperate by June. In March 2019, she became the 11th person in Japan to reach the age of 115. In June 2019, she was hospitalized for low blood oxygen levels but was discharged five days later. She was subsequently re-admitted to hospital but was discharged again in July.

Shin Matsushita died in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan, on August 27, 2019, at the age of 115 years and 150 days.

RECOGNITION

She was the world’s third-oldest validated person behind Kane Tanaka and Lucile Randon of France. She is the oldest person in the history of Miyagi Prefecture.