Tomoji Tanabe, the world's oldest man, marked his 112th birthday Tuesday, the Associated Press reported. Born Sept. 18, 1895, Tanabe was named world's oldest male after the death of the Puerto Rican Emiliano Mercado Del Toro, who died aged 115 last January. On Tuesday, the mayor of Miyakonojo City, where Tanabe lives, presented the elder with a bouquet and a letter of congratulations. A former city land surveyor who lives with his son and daughter-in-law, Tanabe is in good health and is known to guzzle milk. He also keeps a diary, avoids alcohol, and does not smoke. Japan has one of the world's longest average life spans, a factor often attributed to a healthy diet rich in fish and rice. The number of Japanese living beyond 100 has almost quadrupled in the past 10 years, with the once-exclusive centenarian club soon expected to surpass 28,000, the government announced in September. The country's centenarian population is expected to reach nearly 1 million _ the world's largest _ by 2050, according to U.N. projections.
