OSAKA - Guinness World Records officially recognized a 115-year-old man in the western Japanese prefecture of Kyoto as the oldest living person of the world, local press reported Tuesday. ?

Jiroemon Kimura, who is living in Kyotango city of the prefecture, inherited the title of the world's oldest person after the death of 115-year-old Dina Manfredini of the United States on Monday morning, less than two weeks after obtaining the status, according to the country's public broadcaster Nippon Hoso Kyokai (NHK). ?

The spokesman for the city said that Kimura, who was born in April 1897, will soon be world's longest living man ever documented if he lives until Dec 28.

Related stories:

A 115-year-old US woman from Iowa has died less than two weeks after inheriting the title of world's oldest person, her family said Monday.

Dina Manfredini, who lived at the Bishop Drumm Retirement Centerin Johnston, died Monday morning, according to her granddaughter Lori Logli. Logli would not elaborate on her grandmother's cause of death, but she said Manfredinihad been suffering from a fever. [Full story]

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