The world's oldest man has died in his native Japan at the age of 112, just two months short of his 113th birthday.

Yasutaro Koide was born on March 13, 1903, and said his secret for a long life was not to 'overdo it, or drink or smoke'.

Mr Koide, who lived in Nagoya in Japan’s Aichi Prefecture, died early on Tuesday at a nursing home, the ministry of health, labour and welfare said. He became the world's oldest man in August.

His death comes just two days after Britain's oldest person Gladys Hooper celebrated her 113th birthday.

In Japan, 111-year-old Tokyo native Masamitsu Yoshida, born on May 30, 1904, succeeds Mr Koide as the oldest man. It was not immediately known whether Mr Yoshida is also the world's oldest man.

The world's oldest person is an American woman, 116-year-old Susannah Mushatt Jones of Brooklyn, New York.