after 111-year-old frenchman émile fourcade's death on 29 december 1995, tonaki became the last living man born in 1884 as well as the second-oldest living man behind danish-born americanman christian mortensen, although americanman johnson parks has been verified to have been 15 days older than tonaki but recently become disputed after a study proving that he may have been born around ten years later than he claimed.