Miyako City, Iwate Prefecture, Japan — On May 30th, Mrs. Ichi Kubota, the oldest living resident of Japan’s Iwate Prefecture, celebrated her 111th birthday.

Mrs. Kubota was born in the village of Tarō (now part of Miyako City), Iwate Prefecture, Japan, on 30 May 1913, as the youngest of five children. At the age of 21, she married a man four years her senior, and they had eight children. Until she was around 70 years old, she assisted in running a dry cleaning shop owned by her husband and son. Following her retirement, from her 70s until the age of 97, she devoted herself to gateball.

Since December last year, Mrs. Kubota has been repeatedly admitted to and discharged from the hospital due to pneumonia. This month, she was infected with COVID-19 and hospitalized for the third time with pneumonia but was discharged after 10 days.

Although she is still not in her best condition, she requested to drink the “Strawberry Milk” sold in the vending machine at the nursing home after being discharged and continues to drink “Lipovitan D,” a nutritional drink she has been consuming daily for over 50 years.

In September 2023, she mentioned that the secret to her longevity is this nutritional drink and eating sea urchin, a seafood product from Iwate. She is one of the survivors of the great tsunami caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake in March 2011. Before the earthquake, she was passionate about playing gateball twice a day, in the morning and afternoon, for over 20 years. Her family believes her years of exposure to sunlight have strengthened her health.

We extend our heartfelt congratulations to Mrs. Kubota on her 111th birthday.