TOKYO – A 96-year-old Japanese man is potty at the prospect of breaking more records after being recognised as the world’s oldest university graduate with his degree in ceramic arts.
Spritely senior Shigemi Hirata received his Guinness World Records certificate on Friday after earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in ceramics from Kyoto University of Art and Design in March, local media reported Saturday.
Born on a Hiroshima farm in 1919 – the year of the first non-stop transatlantic flight and the signing of the Treaty of Versailles – Hirata is something of a celebrity on campus.
“Students whose name I don’t even know call out to greet me,” he told Japan’s Yomiuri newspaper.
“That gives me a lot of energy. It looks like it’s my fate to live a long life. I’ve been blessed with the people around me.” Hirata, who took 11 years to complete his ceramic arts course after taking up pottery as a pensioner, insisted he was not done setting records.
“My goal is to live until I’m 100,” he said. “If I’m fit enough it might be rather fun to go to graduate school.” Hirata, who served in the navy during World War II and has four great-grandchildren, added: “I’m so happy. At my age it’s fun to be able to learn new things.” Japan’s perky pensioners regularly set eye-popping records as the silver-haired generation enjoy longer and healthier lives.
Last year, 100-year-old Mieko Nagaoka became the world’s first centenarian to complete a 1,500-metre freestyle swim, 20 years after she took up the sport.
Many elderly Japanese remain physically active long after other people have given up the ghost.
Twinkle-toed sprinter Hidekichi Miyazaki, dubbed “Golden Bolt” after Jamaican superstar Usain Bolt, also set a world record last year, clocking 42.22 seconds for the 100 metres in the over-105 category a day after reaching the milestone age.
There were nearly 59,000 centenarians in Japan in 2015, according to government figures – which means 46 out of every 100,000 people is 100 or over.
