The world`s oldest man, Tomoji Tanabe, died of heart failure on Friday at the age of 113 in Miyakonojo on Japan`s southern island of Kyushu, national media reported on Friday.

"He died peacefully. His family members were with him," the Japan Today newspaper quoted a city official as saying.

Tanabe, born on 8 September 1895, had eight children, 25 grandchildren, and 53 great-grandchildren. He earlier said his healthy diet and abstinence from alcohol were the main secrets of his longevity.

His favorite dishes were fried shrimp and Japanese miso soup with clams, the newspaper said. He drank milk every morning, read newspapers, and avoided cigarettes and snacks.

Tanabe was confirmed as the world`s oldest man by the Guinness Book of World Records in 2007, when a Puerto Rican man died aged 115.

Japan`s health ministry says the number of centenarians in the country has doubled in the past six years, reaching 36,000 in 2008. Some 86% of country`s centenarians are women.

The world`s oldest man is now Britain`s Henry Allingham, a World War I veteran born on June 6, 1896. The oldest known person is 115-year-old Gertrude Baines, who lives in Los Angeles.
sections: World News