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- The world's oldest twins are 107 years and 300 days old as of September 1.
- The twins, who are from Japan, were separated after elementary school and lived apart for most of their lives.
- They are part of a rapidly aging population in Japan, which has 86,500 centenarians.
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Two Japanese sisters have been confirmed as the world's oldest identical twins ever, having lived 107 years and 300 days as of September 1, Guinness World Records announced on Monday.
Umeno Sumiyama and Koume Kodama were born on November 5, 1913, on Shodo Island in west Japan. They were the third and fourth siblings of a family with 11 children.
The twin sisters were separated as children and rarely met up until they were 70 years old, according to the Guinness World Records.
Their upbringing was like a TV drama, they told the organization. Sumiyama and Kodama were bullied in school for being twins, which they said was the toughest experience of their childhoods.
When they finished elementary school, Kodama was sent to work as a maid in Japan's main southwest island of Kyushu, reported the AP.
Sumiyama later married a resident from Shodo Island, while Kodama married someone from outside the island, per the Guinness World Records.
Living about 190 miles apart, they saw one another mostly at weddings and funerals. But when they turned 70, they reconnected and started making Buddhist pilgrimages together, said the organization.
They're now living in separate care homes, and their families told Guinness World Records the twins are sociable and positive, and that they often joked about surpassing the age of Kin Narita and Gin Kanie, the previous record-holders for the title of world's oldest living twins.
Narita and Kanie died in 2000 and 2001 respectively, and were celebrities in Japan for their long age and amiable personalities in the 1990s. Known by their fans as "Kin-san" and "Gin-san," they appeared in television and radio talk shows. They set their record as the world's oldest twins at 107 years and 175 days.
Because of COVID-19 measures, Sumiyama and Kodama's world record certificates were mailed to their nursing homes, and Sumiyama reportedly was in tears when she received hers, according to Guinness World Records. Kodama's memory has faded and she didn't understand the significance of the certificate, the organization said.
Japan has the world's fastest-aging population, with 28% of its 125 million people aged 65 and above, per the World Bank. Japan Times reported this month that the country also has 86,500 centenarians, or people who have lived 100 years or more, and that 88% of them are women.