Born on December 11 1894, supercentenarian Kaku Yamanaka had reached the age of 113. She had been named Japan’s oldest living person in February 2008 when her predecessor Tsuneyo Toyonaga passed away.

Yamanaka was taken to a hospital after falling ill at her residence, a nursing home in Yatomi City in Aichi prefecture (state). Sadly she failed to recover from her illness and died in her sleep. She was known for her love of singing and often took part in local karaoke contests.

Kaku Yamanaka was officially recognized by the Guinness Book of Records as the second eldest woman in the world. She was 20 months younger than American record holder Edna Parker and a year older than her countryman Tomoji Tanabe, the world’s oldest living man.

The number of Japanese people living beyond the age of 100 has quadrupled over the past decade. According to the Japanese Health Ministry, there were 32,295 Japanese supercentenarians still going strong in 2007. In 2006, Japanese women set a new record for life expectancy with an average lifespan of 85.81 years.