Japan records 107,677 centenarians, passing 100,000 for the first time

Japan had 107,677 people aged 100 or older on 1 September, the health ministry said, crossing 100,000 for the first time since it began the count in 1963. The total rose by 7,914 from last year and has risen every year for 56 years. Women account for 94,298 of the group, or 87.6 per cent. Men number 13,379. There are now 87.51 centenarians for every 100,000 residents.

When the survey started there were 153 people aged 100 or more. The count passed 1,000 in 1981, 10,000 in 1998 and 50,000 in 2012. Another 54,294 people are due to turn 100 in fiscal 2026, up 1,984 from the previous year. They will receive a letter from the prime minister and a silver-plated sake cup, the customary gift on Respect for the Aged Day.

The oldest woman on the list is Fuyo Kishimoto of Kyoto, born 20 December 1911, now 114. She became the oldest after Shigeko Kagawa of Yamatokoriyama, Nara, died in August at 115. The oldest man is Hikaru Kato of Kumamoto, born 2 May 1914, now 112. Health Minister Kenichiro Ueno said he was glad so many people were living long lives and repeated the government’s pledge to keep the social security system able to support them.

The milestone is a demographic fact and a fiscal warning at the same time. Japan’s population is falling. The share of people over 65 is already among the highest on earth. A six-figure centenarian population means a larger group that needs care, pensions and hospital beds for longer. It also means the public health system that produced these ages is still working. Ueno credited medicine and technology. Diet, low smoking among women in earlier cohorts, and dense primary care are the usual supporting explanations in the Japanese literature. The ministry release did not try to isolate one cause.

Researchers outside Japan have argued that some national centenarian counts are inflated by bad records. Japan’s basic resident register, the source for these figures, is tighter than most. That does not make every file perfect. It does make the 100,000 crossing a harder number to dismiss as paperwork.

Tetsuo Sato, 106, who lives with his son’s family in Osonogo, Niigata, told interviewers he spends his days making notebooks from old calendars. He plans to mark 107 at a hot-springs hotel. Stories like his will fill the holiday coverage. The policy file is less gentle. Each extra year at the top of the age pyramid is a year the working-age tax base has to fund. The ministry can celebrate the 107,677. It still has to staff the homes they will need.