Tomoji Tanabe was a Japanese supercentenarian and, at the time of his death at age 113, the oldest living man in the world. Tanabe became the oldest man in Japan following the death of Nijiro Tokuda, who was 111 at the time, on 12 June 2006. Upon the death of 115-year-old Emiliano Mercado del Toro on 24 January 2007, he assumed the title of the man with the oldest validated date of birth in the world. He was the last living man verified to have been born in 1895.
Born in Miyakonojo, Miyazaki Prefecture, Tanabe worked as a civil engineer at the city office. He is survived by eight children, 25 grandchildren and 54 great-grandchildren. He credited total abstinence from alcohol as the secret to his longevity. On his 112th birthday, he stated: "I want to live forever. I don't want to die", as he received 100,000 yen ($870) and flowers from the local mayor. He ate vegetables and drank milk daily.
A former city land surveyor, Tanabe, on his 113th birthday said "I am happy. I eat a lot. I don't want to die yet." Last year, he said he wanted to "live indefinitely."Tanabe received a giant tea cup engraved with his name and date of birth plus birthday gifts, flowers and US $ 1,000 cash from Miyakonojo Mayor Makoto Nagamine. A Miyakonojo official said: "His favorite food is fried shrimp, but we've heard that he's cut back on oily food. He's said he wants to live for another 10 years, that he doesn't want to die."
However after his last birthday, Tanabe's health deteriorated quickly. He had mostly been bed-ridden since early May 2009 and could not eat, due to a chronic heart condition. On June 19, 2009, Tanabe died in his sleep of heart failure at his home in southern Japan. He was 113 years, 274 days old.
