World's oldest man reveals secret to a long life

A retired Japanese farmer aged 112 years and 344 days has been named as the world’s oldest man and given a certificate by Guinness World Records at his care home in Niigata.

The father-of-five, Grinning Chitetsu Watanabe, was born in 1907 in northern Japan and said that the secret to a long life is ‘not to get angry and keep a smile on your face.’

After graduating from agricultural school he moved to Taiwan and worked on sugar cane plantation contracts and lived there for 18 years with his wife Mitsue and their children.

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He served in the military towards the end of World War II and then returned to Niigata where he worked in a government office until retirement. He also grew fruit and vegetables on the family farm.

In 1974, he and his son Tetsuo built new family home with a hectare of farmland where they grew potatoes, tomatoes, strawberries and plums. He kept this going until he was 104, Dailmail UK reported.

Mr Watanabe said he’s still got a sweet tooth despite losing all his teeth and loves custard pudding and cream puffs because they don’t need to be chewed.

Read: ‘World’s oldest man’ dies in Japan at 113

Mr Watanabe’s daughter-in-law – wife of his eldest son Tetsuo, said: ‘I’ve never seen him raise his voice or get mad. He’s also caring.

‘I think having lived with a big family under one roof, mingling with his grandchildren and great-grandchildren helped keep a smile on his face as well.’

Until about a decade ago, Mr Watanabe used to grow bonsai trees and had a collection of about 100 which he used to exhibit.

The record for the oldest man ever was held by Jiroemon Kimura, of Japan, who was born in April 1897 and passed away aged 116 years 54 days in June, 2013.