--- title: The World's Oldest Person, Misao Okawa, Has Died in Japan Aged 117 description: Misao Okawa died of heart failure. She is survived by four grandchildren and six great-grandchildren canonical: https://time.com/3766662/worlds-oldest-person-misao-okawa-117-dies/ author: Rishi Iyengar article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-04-01T07:45:53.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T05:36:17.213Z article:section: Health og:title: The World's Oldest Person Has Died in Japan og:description: Misao Okawa was 117 years old. og:url: https://time.com/3766662/worlds-oldest-person-misao-okawa-117-dies/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdc9b2a029f7ca47e/6987862835ba6f26acc07d6a/465195716.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2000 og:image:height: 1125 og:image:alt: The World's Oldest Person Celebrated Ahead Of Turning 117 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The World's Oldest Person Has Died in Japan twitter:description: Misao Okawa was 117 years old. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdc9b2a029f7ca47e/6987862835ba6f26acc07d6a/465195716.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The World's Oldest Person Has Died in Japan > Sponsored content. 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Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. by [Rishi Iyengar](https://time.com/author/rishi-iyengar/) ## Rishi Iyengar Apr 1, 2015 7:45 AM UTC  Misao Okawa, the world's oldest Japanese woman, poses for a photo on her 117th birthday celebration at Kurenai Nursing Home on March 4, 2015, in Osaka, Japan Misao Okawa, the world's oldest Japanese woman, poses for a photo on her 117th birthday celebration at Kurenai Nursing Home on March 4, 2015, in Osaka, Japan Buddhika Weerasinghe—Getty Images by [Rishi Iyengar](https://time.com/author/rishi-iyengar/) ## Rishi Iyengar Apr 1, 2015 7:45 AM UTC The world’s oldest person, who celebrated her 117th birthday less than a month ago, [died early Wednesday](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/ff4340e754b741d298f7ff051884fea1/worlds-oldest-person-dies-117) in Osaka, Japan. Staff at Misao Okawa’s nursing home said she died of heart failure, the Associated Press reported. She reportedly lost her appetite 10 days ago, and breathed her last with her grandson and carers beside her. “She went so peacefully, as if she had just fallen asleep,” said Tomohiro Okada, an official at the home. “We miss her a lot.” Born on March 5, 1898, Okawa was recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records in 2013 as the world’s oldest person. Okawa, who had two daughters and a son with her late husband, is survived by four grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. \[[_AP_](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/ff4340e754b741d298f7ff051884fea1/worlds-oldest-person-dies-117)\] _Read next:_ [_13 Secrets to Living Longer From the World’s Oldest People_](http://time.com/3731504/longevity-secrets-worlds-oldest-person/?iid=time%5Freadnext) [_Listen to the most important stories of the day._](http://time.com/newsletter/the-brief/?sl%5Fautoplay=true&xid=spl-fullbrief-article) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3766662/worlds-oldest-person-misao-okawa-117-dies/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3766662/worlds-oldest-person-misao-okawa-117-dies/"},"headline":"The World's Oldest Person Has Died in Japan","datePublished":"2015-04-01T07:45:53.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T05:36:17.213Z","description":"Misao Okawa was 117 years old","url":"https://time.com/3766662/worlds-oldest-person-misao-okawa-117-dies/","keywords":["Aging","Japan","Birthday","Guinness Book of World Records","died"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdc9b2a029f7ca47e/6987862835ba6f26acc07d6a/465195716.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Rishi Iyengar","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/rishi-iyengar/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdc9b2a029f7ca47e/6987862835ba6f26acc07d6a/465195716.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"The World's Oldest Person Celebrated Ahead Of Turning 117","caption":"The World's Oldest Person Celebrated Ahead Of Turning 117","creditText":"Buddhika Weerasinghe—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/aging/","name":"Aging"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3766662/worlds-oldest-person-misao-okawa-117-dies/","name":"The World's Oldest Person Has Died in Japan"}}]}] ```