Masazō Nonaka

Masazō Nonaka (野中 正造, Nonaka Masazō, (1905-07-25)25 July 1905 – 20 January 2019) was a Japanese hotel manager and supercentenarian.

Masazō Nonaka
野中 正造
Born	(1905-07-25)25 July 1905 Ashoro, Hokkaido, Japan
Died	20 January 2019(2019-01-20) (aged 113)
Known for	Oldest living man (29 January 2018 - 20 January 2019) Manager of Nonaka Onsen
Spouse	Hatsuno Nonaka
Children	5 (2 living)

Biography

Nonaka was born on 25 July 1905 in Ashoro, Hokkaido as the eldest child of Masujiro Nonaka and his wife Kiyo Nonaka, and had two brothers and three sisters. In his youth, Nonaka worked as a farmer and lumberjack until 1925 when he took over Nonaka Onsen, a hot spring inn founded by his parents in 1905 and nowadays owned and managed by one of his grandchildren. In 1931, he married Hatsuno Nonaka, who died in 1992 and with whom he had 5 children (2 living).

Nonaka, who was the oldest living Japanese man since 112-year-old Masamitsu Yoshida's death on 29 October 2016, became the world's oldest living man after the death of 113-year-old Spaniard Francisco Núñez Olivera on 30 January 2018 (Núñez Olivera died on 29 January 2018 CET), and credited his long life to eating sweets and bathing in hot springs. Nonaka was also the oldest living person in Hokkaido since Teru Hatakeyama (who was just five days older) died on 3 April 2016.

Nonaka died in his sleep of natural causes at age 113 years, 179 days at 1:30am on 20 January 2019, and was succeeded as the oldest living man by Chitetsu Watanabe (born 5 March 1907), although German World War II-veteran Gustav Gerneth (born 15 October 1905?) and Mexican Domingo Villa Avisencio (born 26 August 1906?) claimed to be older than Watanabe (who, however, was the oldest living Japanese man).

References

Preceded by Francisco Núñez Olivera

Oldest living man in the world 29 January 2018 - 20 January 2019

Succeeded by Chitetsu Watanabe