Japanese sisters certified as world’s oldest twins at 107

By MARI YAMAGUCHI
Associated Press

TOKYO (AP) — Guinness World Records has certified two Japanese sisters as the world’s oldest living identical twins at 107. Umeno Sumiyama and Koume Kodama were born the third and fourth of 11 siblings. They were separated after elementary school when one started working as a maid. They seldom saw each other until they turned 70, when they started visiting temples together. Guinness made the announcement Monday on Respect for the Aged Day, a national holiday in Japan. It is the world’s fastest-aging nation and has more than 86,000 centenarians. At 107 years and more than 300 days, Sumiyama and Kodama broke a record set by famous Japanese twin sisters Kin Narita and Gin Kanie.