Ito Kinase, 113, was oldest kama'aina
By Eloise Aguiar
Advertiser Windward O'ahu Writer
Ito Kinase of Kane'ohe, the oldest known person in Hawai'i and one of the oldest in the world, died Friday. She was 113.
Advertiser library photo • Dec. 30, 1998
Kinase endured a World War II internment camp, outlived two husbands and beat cancer twice.
Ito Kinase was listed as the sixth-oldest person in the United States.
She was always willing to try new things, including marijuana at 80 years old, horseback riding at age 90 and a hike up Diamond Head at 100.
Born in Japan on Dec. 31, 1889, Kinase arrived in San Francisco in 1916 when she was 27.
The new wife of a railroad worker from Pasco (now Lavey), Wash., she had refused to be a picture bride and insisted on seeing the man she would marry.
Her family later moved to Redmond, Ore., where she operated a truck farm and raised five children.
Kinase moved to Hawai'i in 1961 with her second husband to help care for one of her grandchildren.
Kinase's daughter, Joyce Iwamuro of Kane'ohe, once described her mother as strong-willed and a survivor who adopted the American lifestyle but never learned to speak English.
According to the Gerontology Research Group, which registers seniors over 110 years old, a 115-year-old Japanese woman is the world's oldest person. Following her on the list were 10 other people, including Kinase, registered at 113 years. The rankings can change as more people are documented.
Kinase was listed as the sixth-oldest person in the United States.
Interviewed last year at 112, Kinase expressed surprise that she had become one of the nation's oldest people.
"I can't believe I'm that old," she said.
Private funeral arrangements are pending.
Correction: Japan's oldest person is a woman. A previous version of this story was incorrect.
