BIOGRAPHY

Umeno Sakurai was born in Takasaki, Gunma Prefecture, Japan, on 7 February 1904. At some point in her life, she married and had four children (two sons and two daughters), and worked as an elementary school teacher. When she lived in her house, she often exercised by weeding the garden.

When she was 110 years old, she was living in a nursing home in Takasaki City. She liked reading newspapers, and she sometimes enjoyed playing karuta games. She had never been seriously ill in her life and her favorite food was sushi.

She became the oldest person in Gunma Prefecture following the death of Shin Hosono on December 20, 2013. Even at the age of 110, her former students from her elementary school years visited her occasionally, and she remembered her former students’ names well.

Umeno Sakurai passed away in Takasaki City, Gunma Prefecture on August 26, 2016, at the age of 112 years and 201 days.

RECOGNITION

In September 2014, the Governor of Gunma Prefecture visited her and she welcomed him with her family, including her great-grandchildren. She said she was “surprised to receive such a celebration as a result of living naturally.”

ATTRIBUTION

* “１１０歳「これからも元気に」＝群馬” – Yomiuri Shimbun, 18 September 2014
* “県内最高齢者：１１２歳・桜井さん死去　／群馬” – Mainichi Shimbun, 29 August 2016

GALLERY