Masa Matsumoto, Kanagawa Prefecture’s oldest living person, dies at 114

The Gerontology Research Group is saddened to report news that Mrs. Masa Matsumoto, the oldest living person in Kanagawa Prefecture, and the third-oldest living person in Japan, sadly died in in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan on 9 July 2024 at the age of 114 years, 223 days.

Masa Matsumoto was born in Konan-cho, Koka District (now part of the city of Koka), Shiga Prefecture, Japan on 29 November 1909. She was the first of seven children.

After graduating from elementary school, Matsumoto left her family home and spent several years working as a babysitter [Japanese: “Komori-Houkou”] at the Mitsubishi Group’s mansion in Osaka. Around the age of 22, she married her childhood friend. The couple had two children, a son and a daughter.

In November 2019, Matsumoto celebrated her 110th birthday, becoming a supercentenarian. She became the oldest living person in Kanagawa Prefecture following the death of 113-year-old Kimi Kawasaki 10 December 2022.

Her age was verified by MHLW Japan, as well as Yumi Yamamoto, Yu Li, Tom Li, and Waclaw Jan Kroczek, and validated by the GRG on 24 February 2023.

At the time of her death, she was the third-oldest living person in Japan (behind Tomiko Itooka and Okagi Hayashi), as well as the seventh-oldest validated living person in the world. Following her death, the new oldest living person in Kanagawa Prefecture is 113-year-old Nobu Kono (born 28 March 1911) of Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan.