What does it take to live for 115 years? For Shigeko Kagawa, Japan's oldest living person until her death, the answer was surprisingly simple: keep walking and keep using your brain.

Kagawa, a retired physician who died on August 27 in Japan's Nara Prefecture at the age of 115 years and 91 days, had often spoken about the habits she believed helped her remain energetic well into her final years.

“There is no secret; I don't do anything special,” she had said, according to the Gerontology Research Group (GRG), which researches supercentenarians.

Her life, however, tells the story of someone who remained constantly active for decades.

A life spent on the move

Kagawa had worked as an obstetrician and gynaecologist, a profession that often kept her moving at all hours of the day and night. She made house calls late at night and even worked on her days off, rushing out to deliver babies and assist patients needing emergency care.

She believed that demanding routine had stayed with her.

According to her family, Kagawa also maintained a regular lifestyle and ate three proper meals a day. She had previously said that walking and keeping the brain active were among the things that helped her keep going.

From medicine to the Olympic torch

Born in May 1911, Kagawa lived through a period of enormous change in Japan, growing up before modern infrastructure and automobiles became commonplace.

She pursued medicine in the 1930s and graduated as an obstetrician and gynaecologist from Osaka Women's Medical College. During World War II and the decades that followed, she treated thousands of patients.

Kagawa later ran a private clinic in Yamatokoriyama, where her work often extended beyond regular hours.

Her extraordinary longevity drew international attention decades later. In 2021, at the age of 109, she took part in the Tokyo Olympic Torch Relay.

Dressed in the relay uniform, Kagawa smiled as her family wheeled her through her section of the route. She later stood up to pass the Olympic flame, creating one of the memorable moments of the relay.

Kagawa became Japan's oldest living person after the death of a 114-year-old woman from Nakatsu in Oita Prefecture on July 29, 2025.

Her death marks the end of a life that stretched across more than a century, from an era before widespread automobiles to the modern age. But the woman who lived to 115 appeared to have little interest in extraordinary formulas for longevity.

For Kagawa, staying active, maintaining a routine and keeping both the body and mind moving seemed to be enough.