World's oldest pharmacist, 101, says her career was a "duty from the heavens"

The world's oldest pharmacist has no intentions of slowing down despite being over 100 years old - and running her pharmacy for the last 70 years!

Kesa Hatamoto, based in Tokyo, Japan, was confirmed as the oldest pharmacist (female) at the age of 101 years and 196 days as of 1 April. 

And don't be fooled into thinking she's in a purely managerial role. She does much of the work by herself - including stocking, ordering, and dispatching.

Surprisingly, her childhood ambition was to become an elementary school teacher. However, her father's words led her to join the world of medicine instead.

"My father told me that as a lifework, having a pharmacist license will set you for life," she said. "I respected him dearly, and so I knew he was right."

Kesa entered higher education without really knowing how difficult it would be, and she had to study diligently in order to keep up.

After graduating, Kesa ended up working in a lab instead of a pharamacy. She later married, which put a temporary pause on her career.

Read this article in Japanese here and find more news in Japanese here.

The opportunity to start her own pharmacy came out of the blue.

She explained: "My husband became a [loan] guarantor of a friend. We had a lot of trust in him, but things did not work out for him. 

"In the past, the loan guarantor had to pay the remaining loan. Another friend of my husband remembered I had a pharmacist license and suggested I should start a shop. Since we had finances to worry about, I decided to give it a go."

The shop not only sold medications, but also general goods. And as there were not many shops nearby, Kesa's pharmacy had no trouble finding customers. Kesa later went on to study Chinese medicine and aimed to create a pharmacy that looked after customers' general wellbeing.

Kesa believes that her personality was a factor for being able to keep up the shop for over 70 years.

"I think I have a bit of guts, and don't really hassle over things. Although I was concerned when my husband got trapped in a troublesome situation financially, I never accused him. I think that's the wisest thing I've done in my entire life!"

Now a Guinness World Records title holder, Kesa says she couldn't have done it by herself.

"People say they've seen [a GWR] certificate for the first time. And I say - I'd never seen one until I got mine as well. I do feel a bit overwhelmed by having a title so big. But both customers and the pharmaceutical community are happy. They all helped me along," she said.

I'd like to thank the gods, the Buddha, and everyone. I feel that I was given a duty from the heavens to work as much as possible on Earth. Recently, I've been feeling greedy and hoping to see [an Official Adjudicator] again next year.

We hope so too!

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