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.)
In 1955, 上野動物園 (Ueno Zoo) in Tokyo was given a three-year-old オランウータン (orangutan) named 「モリー」 (“Molly“).
We first saw her at that zoo in the ’90s, when Molly was in her forties. For an orangutan, that age is already elderly.
By the time we first saw Molly she had gone blind in her left eye and she had to use her hand to hold her right eye open in order to see.
My family and I really liked Molly and we visited her every time that we went to the zoo.
But then in 2005 when we went to Ueno Zoo, we were sad to find that Molly‘s cage was empty. As Molly was quite old for an orangutan at that point, we suspected the worst and thought that she had passed away…until we noticed a sign that said Molly had been transferred to 「多摩動物公園」 (“Tama Zoo”).
Tama Zoo is also in Tokyo but it’s in rural western Tokyo where there’s more room, so Tama Zoo is much larger that metropolitan Tokyo’s Ueno Zoo.
We hadn’t been to Tama Zoo for awhile and we like that zoo a lot. So during 2005’s Golden Week (which, coincidentally, is the week-long holiday period in Japan that happens to started two days ago) we went to Tama Zoo and saw Molly looking happy in the zoo’s large orangutan enclosure.
Well, it was announced in the news that Molly, who was the world’s oldest orangutan, died yesterday (2011 March 30) from old age (she was 59 years and 4 months old).
Rest in peace, Molly.
Here are some photos that I took of her at Tama Zoo in May 2005:
A visitor to my site named Jean Adams emailed me this wonderful picture of Molly that she drew after seeing a photo of Molly in her local newspaper in England:
Since Molly has passed away, now the current oldest orangutan in the world is now a 57 year old female named “Gypsy” who also lives at Tama Zoo in Tokyo.
She likes to look through fashion magazines! 🙂
Meet 木村次郎右衛門 (Jiroemon Kimura).
114 years old today!
Today’s his birthday. His 114th birthday!
He was born on 1897 April 19th and now he’s the World’s Oldest Living Man (and the sixth oldest person in the world).
He has 14 grandchildren, 25 great-grandchildren and 11 great-great-grandchildren (his twelfth great-great-grandchild is due to be born soon).
With some of his great-great-grandchildren
When I become old, I hope I’m as 元気 (energetic, lively) as Mr. Kimura!
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.
Tokyo Five 
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