Chitetsu Watanabe

Chitetsu Watanabe

Chitetsu Watanabe in January 2018.

Validated

Chitetsu Watanabe [Japanese: 渡邉智哲] (born 5 March 1907) is a Japanese supercentenarian who is the oldest living man whose age is validated by the Gerontology Research Group (GRG).

Biography

Watanabe was born in the Urakawahara suburb of Joetsu, Niigata, Japan on 5 March 1907. His parents were farmers. After graduating from an agricultural high school, he went to Taiwan with his job as an employee for a sugarcane company. He returned after the Second World War, and worked for a departure agency. He had five children.

After retiring, Watanabe lived with one of his son's family until the age of 108, when he moved to a care facility in Joetsu, Niigata, Japan. As of 2019, he has 12 grandchildren and 16 great-grandchildren.

Longevity Records

Watanabe has been the oldest living person in Niigata Prefecture since the death of Tora Kosugi on 11 December 2018. He became the oldest living man in Japan following the death of 113-year-old Masazo Nonaka on 20 January 2019.

Since the death of Masazo Nonaka, Watanabe has been the oldest living man whose age is validated by the Gerontology Research Group. However, at the time there were other claimants to the world's oldest man title, such as Gustav Gerneth and Domingo Villa (both of whom are now deceased), whose ages are not validated. Watanabe has not been recognised as the world's oldest man by Guinness World Records.

References

• 105歳の誕生日、祝福に笑顔 上越市下門前の渡邉智哲さん J-Times, 5 March 2012
• 上越市内男性最高齢者　渡邉智哲さん 107歳のバースデー The Joetsu Yomiuri Shimbun, March 2014
• 上越市の渡邉智哲さん111歳が国内最高齢男性に 「120歳まで頑張る」 Joetsu Town Journal, 22 January 2019
• 「サンキューベイビー！」国内最高齢男性の上越市の渡邉さん112歳　誕生日に村山市長がお祝い Joetsu Town Journal, 5 March 2019

Japan's Oldest Living Man Titleholders (V • E)

Shozaburo Oda • Tokusaburo Hatsukade • Unknown • Ikumatsu Matsuura • Masakichi Kai • Goro Usuyama • Shizuo Jinjiang • Kokuzo Iwate • Eisaku Takada • Hisaharu Arai • Chojiro Goto • Yozotaro Yoshikawa • Masutaro Sato • Takataro Hiragushi • Mataichi Ono • Shotaro Tanaka • Rinzo Shimizu • Koji Onishi • Inasaku Abe • Mokotaru Osada • Eiju Tsuru • Kiichi Fujiwara • Nisaburo Matsuyama • Shimetaro Hara • Gihei Oka • Gengan Tonaki • Denzo Ishizaki • Sadayoshi Tanabe • Yukichi Chuganji • Kameni Nakamura • Minsho Ozawa • Totaro Murakami • Kohachi Shigetaka • Nijiro Tokuda • Tomoji Tanabe • Jiroemon Kimura • Jokichi Ikarashi • Sakari Momoi • Yasutaro Koide • Masamitsu Yoshida • Masazo Nonaka • Chitetsu Watanabe • Issaku Tomoe • Shojiro Shirai • Motoi Fukunishi • Mikizo Ueda • Shigeru Nakamura • Gisaburo Sonobe • Tomisaburo Wakui