First, she was one of few women to emigrate from Japan to other countries (in this case, Hawaii).
Second, she is the only Japanese-American (or American-Japanese, for that record) supercentenarian ever recorded, and the only Japanese emigrant supercentenarian.
Born in Okinawa, the same prefecture as Kama Chinen, on 31 December 1889, Kinase moved to Hawaii at an unknown date.
According to gerontological records, Kinase was validated based on both Japanese and American records. All Japanese born since 1 January 1879 are supposed to be well-documented.
Kinase died on 24 January 2003 at the age of 113 years, 24 days, and is currently the 86th oldest American on record, as well as the 30th oldest Japanese on record.