With support from the University of Richmond

History News Network puts current events into historical perspective. Subscribe to our newsletter for new perspectives on the ways history continues to resonate in the present. Explore our archive of thousands of original op-eds and curated stories from around the web. Join us to learn more about the past, now.

Tokyo's oldest person goes missing

A 113-year-old woman listed as Tokyo's oldest person has gone missing, officials said on Tuesday, days after the city's oldest man was found dead and mummified.

Fusa Furuya, born in July, 1897, does not live at the address in Japan's capital where she is registered and her whereabouts are unknown, officials said.

News of her disappearance surfaced days after the discovery that Tokyo's oldest man, who would have been 111 years old, had actually been dead for three decades.

Officials admitted that they had not personally contacted the two people in decades, despite their listing as the longest-living in the capital.

Officials only learned that the man was dead, and Mrs Furuya missing, when they began updating their records ahead of a holiday in honour of the elderly that is to be observed next month....

Read entire article at Telegraph (UK)