Mjapan asheherekea birthday ya miaka 115

Mzee Nakamura akiwa amembeba mtoto jana Aprili 19,2012

Jiroemon Kimura of Kyoto, Japan, the world's oldest living man, celebrated his 115th birthday on Thursday.

According to the Gerontology Research Group (GRG), an international body that specifically deals in longevity research, he is not only the world's oldest living man, but is the third-oldest man in recorded history.

"I'm delighted beyond words," Kimura said of his milestone.

However, Kimura is not technically the world's oldest living person.

That distinction belongs to Georgia resident Besse Cooper, who was born on August 26, 1896.

Kimura has fathered 7 children (5 are still alive), has 14 grandchildren, 25 great-grandchildren, and 13 great-great-grandchildren.

He says eating small portions of food has been his secret to longevity.

Kimura worked at a post office for 38 years before switching careers to become a farmer, which he was until he was 90 years old.

And Kimura has another distinction:

He is technically a supercentenarian, someone who is 110 or older.

According to GRG, there are 70 verified supercentenarians alive today.

He is the first male to achieve this age in over five years, and the third undisputed male to do so in history.

The world's oldest living man from 14 April 2011 following the death of Walter Breuning of Montana, United States, Kimura's 115th birthday comes half a month after that of Dina Manfredini of Iowa, United States, and marks the first time in six years there have been three living 115-year-olds together.

Kimura is currently the world's third-oldest living person, the world's oldest Asian, and the oldest living Japanese person, distinctions he has held since the passing of Chiyono Hasegawa of Saga, Japan, on 2 December 2011, aged 115 years, 12 days.

Hasegawa, at her death, was ranked as the world's second-oldest living person, behind Besse Cooper of Georgia, United States, born 26 August 1896.

Kimura is also the last living Asian born in 1897, and the only living male born in the 1800s.

Following the death of Tanekichi Onishi of Hokkaidō, Japan, on 11 September 2011, Kimura is also currently the only living male supercentenarian in Japan.

Aged 113 years 360 days at the time of Breuning's death, he is the oldest man ever to assume the title of world's oldest living male, a distinction that had previously been held by Joan Riudavets-Moll of the Balearic Islands, Spain, who was aged 113 years 287 days when he became the world's oldest man in 2003.

As of his 114th birthday, Kimura was only the sixth male in history to achieve that age, and on that day, he mentioned to the media his survival of the 7.6-magnitude Kyoto earthquake in 1927.

He is the oldest man ever from Japan as of 26 October 2011, then having surpassed the final age of the previous titleholder, Yukichi Chuganji, who died aged 114 years, 189 days.

Shigechiyo Izumi, however, was for over twenty years recognised as Japan's oldest man (and person) at the alleged age of 120 years 237 days, though his case was eventually called into question and subsequently rejected as of the 2012 edition of the Guinness Book of World Records.

Kimura, who became the oldest living Japanese male on 19 June 2009 following the death of Tomoji Tanabe of Miyazaki, Japan, cited small portions of food as the key to a long life.