TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Okagi Hayashi, a 115-year-old woman in Toki in Gifu Prefecture, central Japan, has become the country's oldest person following the death in late December of the previous titleholder, who lived to the age of 116, the government said Monday.

Hayashi's predecessor, Tomiko Itooka, who resided in Ashiya in Hyogo Prefecture, western Japan, died of old age on Dec. 29 at a nursing home for elderly people requiring special care. Itooka was recognized as the world's oldest person at the time of her death.

According to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, Hayashi was born on Sept. 2, 1909.