Birthday of two famous Japanese

Today, 2015 March 5th, is the birthday of two famous Japanese people.
They’re famous in Japan, at least. Are they known in your country too?

First of all, the world’s oldest person, 大川ミサヲ (Misao OKAWA), was born on 1898 March 5th in Osaka, Japan. She is celebrating her 117th birthday today with her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren!

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Next, also from Osaka (but wasn’t born there)…today also would have been the birthday of 安藤百福 (Momofuku ANDO).
He is the man who invented instant Cup Noodle!

「カップヌードル」

He was born Taiwan on 1910 March 5th. At that time, Taiwan was a Japanese territory.

At the age of 22, he moved to Osaka, Japan and eventually became a naturalized Japanese citizen.
When he became a Japanese citizen, he changed his name to Momofuku Ando.
“Ando” is a common Japanese family name…but “Momofuku” is an unusual name in Japan. But his first name was changed to Momofuku when he became Japanese because it is an uncommon pronunciation in Japanese of his Chinese first name (pronounced “Baifu” in Chinese). It is written 「百福」 and literally means “One hundred fortunes“.

The logo of Google’s Japanese homepage today is of Momofuku ANDO.

World’s oldest person

Yesterday, 2013 April 19, was the 116th birthday of the world’s oldest living person … Jiroemon Kimura of Japan.

Mr. Kimura was born on 1897 April 19th.

(edited on 2013 June 12th:
Mr. Kimura died this morning.
RIP, Mr. Jiroemon Kimura, 1897 April 19th – 2013 June 12th, aged 116 years and 54 days.)

The oldest person in the world has died

Kama Chinen, of Okinawa, Japan, was born on 1895 May 10 and she became the oldest person in the world on 2009 September 11 at the age of 114.
(Click here to read the post I wrote when she became the “World’s Oldest Person”.)

It was just reported that she died a few days ago on 2010 May 2. Only eight days before her 115th birthday.

Kama Chinen, 1895 May 10 - 2010 May 2, R.I.P.

Now the World’s Oldest Person is Eugenie Blanchard from France. She was born on 1896 February 16…about nine months after Kama Chinen was born.

On the news today…

A few things that were on the TV news today…

• A woman in Belgium is suing the tattoo artist who put 56 stars on her face.She claims that she requested that he ink only three stars on her face, and then she fell asleep while he was tattooing her…and when she woke up, she discovered that the entire left-side of her face was covered in stars.

  

  The tattoo artist, who is completely covered in tattoos and piercings himself, claims that she requested a tattoo of exactly 56 stars on her face and that’s what she got.

  

  The tattoo artist

  It’s hard to be sure who’s lying…but, personally, I think I believe the tattooist. Even though he looks bizarre…why would he jeopardize his livelihood and give his customer a tattoo over 18 times the size that they requested?
  And could a person sleep who their face is being tattooed?

• 田鍋友時 (Tomoji Tanabe) died today at the age of 113.He was the world’s oldest man. (Now the world’s oldest man is an Englishman named Henry Allingham. Mr. Allingham is also 113 years old…but he just turned 113 a couple of weeks ago—田鍋友時 (Tomoji Tanabe) would have turned 114 this September, had he lived.)
• The longest continuously-running manga ever, 「こちら葛飾区亀有公園前派出所」 (“This Is The Police Box In Front Of Kameari-Park in Katsushika-ward (Tokyo))”, will be made into a live-action TV series.
  

  「こちら葛飾区亀有公園前派出所」

  It already has a popular anime series. I like to watch the anime (TV cartoon)…so I’m planning to check out the live-action TV series when it starts airing this August (on Saturdays).

  The main character, 「勘吉両津」 (Kankichi Ryoutsu), will be played by 「香取慎吾」 (Katori Shingo) of the J-pop band SMAP.

  

  "Shingo" as "Kankichi Ryotsu"

  The story 「こちら葛飾区亀有公園前派出所」 (“This Is The Police Box In Front Of Kameari-Park in Katsushika-ward (Tokyo))” is about a team of police officers in a small town in Tokyo…the main character is Kankichi Ryoutsu. He’s very strong and can run extremely fast…even though he always wears 「下駄」 (Japanese traditional wooden sandals).

  But he prefers to try get-rich-quick schemes rather than police work.

  There are also many other characters in the series…for example, a motorcycle cop named Honda who’s extremely timid and nervous–until he gets on his Kawasaki motorcycle (his brother-in-law is named Kawasaki and rides a Honda motorcycle!).

  If you go to the town in Tokyo that this manga is based, you can see the police box that the characters are stationed at. (If you ask the real policemen at this police-box where Kankichi Ryoutsu is, they’ll often say that “he’s out on patrol”!).

  Also, at either exit of the 亀有駅 (Kameari Train Station), there is a statue of Kankichi Ryoutsu.

  I took a photo of each one: