Tomoji Tanabe, Japan's oldest man, turned 111 on Monday, which fittingly enough was Respect for the Aged Day.
The mayor of Tanabe's hometown of Miyakonojo, Miyazaki Prefecture, congratulated him by handing him a bouquet of flowers and a letter of congratulations.
"Thanks to all of you," Tanabe said. "I am living. It seems that I will live longer."
He then blew out the candles on his birthday cake with his 3-year-old great-grandchild Hikaru.
Tanabe lives with his fifth son Motoori, 66, and his wife, Fujiko, 59.
He said he gets up at 6 a.m., reads the newspaper and keeps a diary. In Monday's diary entry, he wrote, "The typhoon has calmed."
