114-year-old Japanese woman becomes world's oldest person.

KAGOSHIMA, Japan, March 20 Kyodo

(EDS:CHANGING DATELINE, UPDATING WITH WOMAN'S HEALTH CONDITION)

A 114-year-old Japanese woman became the oldest person in the world Monday night following the death of the previous record holder, an American, according to Guinness World Records.

Kamato Hongo of Kagoshima, Kagoshima Prefecture in southwestern Japan, became the record holder after the death of Maude Farris-Luse at the age of 115 years and 56 days, according to the official Web site of Guinness World Records.

Hongo was born Sept. 16, 1887 in the town of Isen in Kagoshima Prefecture, where the late Shigechiyo Izumi, a former Guinness world record holder as the world's oldest person, spent his life. He died in 1986 at the age of 120 years and 237 days.

Hongo can no longer speak or walk by herself but is in good health and eats heartily, her daughter Shizue Kurauchi, 78, said Wednesday.

The oldest man in the world, Yukichi Chuganji, is also from Japan. He will turn 113 on Saturday.

The life expectancy of Japanese is among the longest in the world at an average 77.72 years for men and 84.60 for women and one in every 20 Japanese females is likely to reach 100, according to the country's Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry.

Farris-Luse, born in Elizabeth county, Illinois, had been living in an old-age home in Coldwater, Michigan before being hospitalized at a nearby hospital after suffering from pneumonia. The great-great-great grandmother turned 115 on Jan. 21.