Tokyo's reputed oldest woman has been missing for decades, Japanese officials have discovered as they made checks after the city's supposed oldest man was found to have died years ago.

东京年龄最大的男子在数年前已经死亡，日本官员在对此进行调查的同时，发现东京公认的年龄最大的妇女已经消失了数十年。

Fusa Furuya, aged¹ 113, had been registered as living with her daughter.

But the daughter says she has not seen her mother since the 1980s.

According to government data, there are more than 40,000 centenarians（百岁或逾百岁以上的人） in Japan. But the discoveries in Tokyo have cast doubt on the accuracy of the numbers.

Despite being reputed（认为） to be Tokyo's oldest woman, it appears no-one had bothered to check that Mrs Furuya was still alive - until now.

Local council officials have been visiting the very elderly after the body of Sogen Kato, thought to be Tokyo's oldest man, was found last week.

The police believe he had been dead for more than 30 years.

When officials went to Ms Furuya's home, they discovered that she had been missing for decades.

Her daughter told them she had not been in contact with her mother when she moved to the flat in 1986.

But she had registered her mother as living there, and kept paying her health insurance, just in case（以防万一） .

Efforts are now under way to trace Mrs Furuya's son to find out if she is living with him.