Chiyo Miyako

Chiyo Miyako - 117 years, 81 days, Japan
A validation for Chiyo Miyako was provided by the Japanese teams for the IDL in 2020 [76]. The birth verification is based on a Koseki which is reproduced in the validation report, and also a residential register that is not reproduced. No date for these documents is given but the Koseki is type written so obviously not an archived original from the parental family. As far as we can tell these documents are later family Koseki, but we have no way of knowing if they were faithfully copied from earlier documents of reconstructed later. Without the Koseki of her original parental family it is impossible to check for the kind of errors that we know has been found in other cases.

Chiyo married a student around 1920 and started a family in 1922. Later they relocated to China for work. The family were almost stranded there at the end of World War 2 and had to return to Japan in a hurry. Photographs and documents that would have helped verify their life story were lost.

The validation is therefore largely based on later documents and checking that the testimony is consistent with history. It is entirely possible that her longevity claim is correct. There is no evidence to the contrary, but validation requires early documentary evidence in favour of the birth date, and an analysis of the possibility for age exaggeration or identity switches. This has not been provided. As such her case does not meet the standards required for validation (see also similar case of Misao Okawa).