Mina Kitagawa

	Mina Kitagawa
	; Mina Kitagawa in September 2020.
	Validated

Mina Kitagawa [Japanese: 北川みな] (born 3 November 1905) is a Japanese supercentenarian who is currently the third-oldest living person in Japan, and the eighth-oldest living person in the world, whose age has been validated by the Gerontology Research Group (GRG).

Biography

Early Life

Kitagawa was born on 3 November 1905 in Echigawa (now Aisho), Shiga prefecture, Japan. Her father was a farmer, and her husband worked for Japanese National Railways. They moved from one place to another due to his job, before eventually settling in Hikone, Shiga, where they rented about 2,500 square meters of land to grow rice and vegetables.

Later Life

Kitagawa continued to work as a farmer until she was 100 years old. In 2017, she moved in to a nursing home in Hikone, Shiga. She reportedly enjoys knitting and handcrafts, and her favourite food is beef.

Longevity

Kitagawa has been the oldest living person in Shiga Prefecture since the death of 111 year old Shige Kitagawa on 13 September 2014. She has held the title of oldest-living person in the Shiga prefecture for 9 years, 218 days. Following the death of Shin Matsushita on 27 August 2019, she became the third-oldest living person in Japan (behind Kane Tanaka and Shigeyo Nakachi).

On 15 February 2019, Kitagawa became the oldest person ever documented from Shiga Prefecture after breaking the previous record of 113 years, 103 days set by Niwa Kawamoto in 1976.

Kitagawa is one of the top-60 oldest people of all-time whose age has been validated by the GRG.