Ikarashi died of pneumonia at 11:06am on 23 July 2013 at age 111 years, 178 days, and was the oldest living Japanese man for almost six weeks after 116-year-old Jiroemon Kimura's death the night of 12 June, and was believed to be the world's oldest living man after the 135 days older Californian man James McCoubrey's death on 5 July. However, just two days after Ikarashi's death, the oldest living man was officially confirmed to be 112-year-old Spanish-born American Salustiano Sánchez, who died on 13 September the same year (coincidencially on the same day as McCoubrey would have turned 112). Ikarashi was succeeded as Japan's oldest living man by Sakari Momoi.