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[00:00.04]Guinness World Records has confirmed two Japanese sisters

[00:05.32]as the world's oldest living identical twins at 107.

[00:13.32]Identical twins are two people born at the same time

[00:17.84]who are produced from a single egg

[00:20.76]and look almost exactly the same.

[00:24.40]The announcement came Monday.

[00:27.20]It took place on Respect for the Aged Day,

[00:32.04]a national holiday in Japan.

[00:35.68]Umeno Sumiyama and Koume Kodama

[00:41.20]were born on Shodoshima island

[00:44.76]in western Japan on November 5, 1913.

[00:50.68]The twins were separated after elementary school.

[00:56.88]Kodama was sent to work as a maid in Oita

[01:01.88]on Japan's southern island of Kyushu.

[01:06.56]She later married there.

[01:09.16]Sumiyama remained on Shodoshima island

[01:14.00]and had her own family.

[01:17.28]The sisters said they experienced difficulties in their younger days.

[01:23.68]Growing up, they said they were bullied because of prejudice

[01:29.76]against children of multiple births in Japan.

[01:35.00]The sisters lived their own lives for many years.

[01:40.44]They rarely got together until they were 70.

[01:45.64]They then started taking trips together

[01:49.24]to some of the 88 Shikoku temples.

[01:53.72]They enjoyed being reconnected.

[01:58.04]Sumiyama and Kodama were 107 years

[02:03.32]and 300 days old as of Sept 1.

[02:08.68]They have broken the earlier record

[02:12.12]set by the famous Japanese sisters Kin Narita and Gin Kanie,

[02:19.72]who lived until they were 107 years and 175 days old.

[02:28.96]Guinness World Records announced the new record in a statement.

[02:35.36]Because of anti-coronavirus measures,

[02:38.88]the certificates for their record were mailed

[02:42.72]to the separate nursing homes where they now live.

[02:47.68]Guinness said Sumiyama accepted hers with tears of happiness.

[02:55.56]Their families told Guinness that the sisters often joked

[03:00.96]about outliving the earlier record holders,

[03:04.80]known as 'Kin-san, Gin-san.'

[03:09.76]Those twins became extremely popular in Japan

[03:14.28]in the late 1990s for both their age and humor.

[03:22.04]Japan has the world's fastest aging population.

[03:26.92]The health and welfare ministry says

[03:30.96]about 29 percent of Japan's 125 million people

[03:37.20]are 65 years or older.

[03:41.16]About 86,510 of them are 100 years or older.

[03:52.76]I'm Mario Ritter Jr.

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Words in This Story

bullied –adj. to have been frightened, hurt or threatened by someone stronger

prejudice –n. an unfair feeling of dislike for a person or group because of race, sex, religion or some other reason

temple –n. a building for worship or religious observance

certificate –n. a document that is official proof that something happened or has been done