Masu Usui (臼井ます)

BIOGRAPHY

Masu Usui was born in Oyama, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan, on 18 December 1910, as the second of seven siblings born to a rice shop owner. Her eldest sister lived to be 105 years old, and her youngest brother lived into his 90s. After graduating from elementary school, she went on to an all-girls’ school in Tokyo, where she lived for several years.
She then returned to Oyama, got married, and raised six children. Usui took good care of the employees of the company her husband ran, while also working hard to raise her children. After World War II, she rented a field to grow crops such as sweet potatoes, allowing her to make homemade snacks for her children when they came home from school. She was a skilled cook and made lots of Japanese sweets such as yokan and Western sweets such as donuts, which she also gave to people in the neighborhood. She enjoyed cooking for her children when they came home with their friends after they had left home.

In her middle age, she sometimes felt unwell, but she quickly recovered by eating her favorite foods, such as beef steak and fried shrimp. She moved into a nursing home at the age of 100, but her body and mind were sharp, and she continued to live an independent life until she was about 110 years old, hand washing her own laundry, sewing, putting on makeup, and dressing up. After she turned 100, she began writing tanka poetry as a mental exercise to prevent dementia. Even at the age of 113, her memory is still intact, and she can still sing the British national anthem, which she learned when the Prince of Wales, later Edward VIII, visited her elementary school in 1922, where she sang it as one of the representatives of the students. She also remembers the lines from the Hyakunin-Isshu, which she has enjoyed since childhood, and can recall the names of her great-grandchildren.

Usui had no major medical history throughout her life, and when she broke her hip at the age of 102, she underwent surgery under general anesthesia and was able to walk again after recovering. As of July 2024, although she has had difficulty walking since her second fracture at the age of 106, she is able to move around independently using her wheelchair. She doesn’t particularly like grilled or boiled fish, but greatly enjoys tuna and salmon, and has such a strong appetite that she once ate nine servings of sushi. She also has a sweet tooth, and her favorite snack is a Japanese rice cracker called “Yuki no Yado,” which her family delivers and keeps in stock at the care home so that she can eat it whenever she likes.

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RECOGNITION

On 12 September 2014, the Mayor of Oyama visited the nursing home where she resided. She was presented with a bouquet and a commemorative gift to honor her longevity as the oldest person in the town. She would later be visited by the mayor again in September 2016 and September 2019.

In September 2022, she was reported as the second-oldest living person in Shizuoka Prefecture, behind Kahoru Furuya. Following Furuya’s passing on 25 December 2022, Usui became the oldest living person in the Prefecture.

Her age was verified by Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare (MHLW), as well as Ryohei Asano, Yu Li, and Yumi Yamamoto, and validated by LongeviQuest on 23 August 2023.

On 7 August 2024, Usui was visited by LongeviQuest representatives Yumi Yamamoto and Ben Meyers, to whom she was able to sing the U. K. national anthem.