Japan's oldest man, 109-year-old Kameni Nakamura, died early Thursday of natural causes in his hometown in Okinawa, officials said.
A former farmer, Nakamura said eating sashimi and his love of people helped him live long, said Sugako Oyama, who looked after him at Shirayuri-no-en, the nursing home he moved to seven years ago. He also ate a lot of tofu, Oyama said, and drank coffee -- usually with lots of milk and sugar.
Nakamura grew weak in recent years and was bedridden. He was hospitalized five days ago when he stopped eating, and had to be fed intravenously.
Okinawa Medical Hospital listed Nakamura's cause of death as old age.
Nakamura worked as a farmer until he was 70. He survived the Battle of Okinawa, during which one in four people in the prefecture died near the end of World War II. He also underwent cancer surgery twice.
Nakamura became Japan's oldest man in September after Yukichi Chuganji, a retired silkworm breeder documented as the world's oldest man, died at age 114.
London-based Guinness World Records recognized 113-year-old Fred Hale Sr., of Syracuse, N.Y., as the world's oldest man in March. Ramona Trinidad Iglesias Jordan of Puerto Rico is the oldest woman, at age 114.
Japan's oldest man is now 109-year-old Minsho Ozawa, who was born Oct. 11, 1894. Japan's oldest woman is Ura Koyama, 113, who lives in Fukuoka Prefecture.