According to Guinness World Records, a Japanese woman who is 108 years old has been recognized as the oldest barber in the world and has promised to continue working until she is at least 110.
Born in 1916, Shitsui Hakoishi made the decision to pursue a career in barbering at the age of 14 after being asked by a friend’s mother whether she would want to work as an apprentice at a Tokyo hair salon.
This week, she participated in a celebratory ceremony that was reportedly attended by her two children, an 81-year-old son and an 85-year-old daughter. She still carries her own scissors.
“I’m overjoyed. At the event at Nakagawa, a town in the eastern part of Tochigi, she declared, “My heart is full.”
The oldest barber category is divided into male and female categories, according to Guinness World Records, which informed AFP on Friday. However, the oldest male barber, Anthony Mancinelli, who practiced in New York until he was at least 107 years old, has since gone away.
When Hakoishi married in her early twenties, she and her husband founded a salon; however, he died during World War II after being drafted.
Guinness said in a statement that the salon, which also served as her family’s residence, “was reduced to ashes during the bombing of Tokyo by the US military.”
However, Hakoishi and her kids made it out alive because they had fled to her homeland of Nakagawa.
Hakoishi built a new salon in Nakagawa a few years after the war ended, and she still works there now. Former customers occasionally call to schedule a haircut.
She can still take care of herself even if she currently resides in a care facility.
According to local broadcaster Tochigi TV, she walked about 200 meters (yards) as one of the torchbearers for the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.
She stated that she wants to “work hard until 110” even though she turns 109 this year when asked about her future plans.
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