TOKYO –
Emperor Naruhito offered the Order of Culture to seven recipients on the Imperial Palace in Tokyo on November third, Japan’s Culture Day, honoring their excellent achievements and contributions to the nation’s cultural improvement.
The recipients started arriving on the Imperial Palace shortly after 9:30 a.m., together with Kenzo Soai, 76, an honorary professor at Tokyo University of Science who was chosen as a recipient of this yr’s Nobel Prize in Chemistry, and composer Shunichi Tokura, 78, identified for writing quite a few hit songs, together with “Pepper Keibu” for the favored feminine pop duo Pink Lady.
The ceremony passed off within the Matsu-no-Ma, or Pine Room, of the Imperial Palace, the place the Emperor personally handed every recipient a medal earlier than providing his congratulations.
“I am truly pleased that you have devoted yourselves to improving culture through many years of hard work and outstanding achievements,” the Emperor stated.
Following the ceremony, the seven recipients gathered within the palace’s East Garden courtyard for a commemorative {photograph}, proudly carrying their medals underneath clear autumn skies.
Kenso Soai, 76, is an honorary professor at Tokyo University of Science and a recipient of the 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. He is internationally acknowledged for locating uneven autocatalysis, a chemical response during which molecules promote the manufacturing of extra molecules with the identical structural orientation. Known because the “Soai reaction,” his discovery has helped scientists examine why organic molecules favor specific mirror-image kinds, a basic query regarding the origins of life.
Shunichi Tokura, 78, is one among Japan’s most profitable common music composers, having helped form the nation’s music business through the Nineteen Seventies and Eighties. His compositions embody Pink Lady’s “UFO” and “Pepper Keibu,” together with hits carried out by Momoe Yamaguchi and Linda Yamamoto. He additionally served as commissioner of Japan’s Agency for Cultural Affairs and has performed an influential position in music copyright safety.
Motoko Ishii, 88, is a pioneer of architectural and concrete lighting design, greatest identified for illuminating a few of Japan’s most recognizable landmarks, together with Tokyo Tower, Rainbow Bridge and Tokyo Gate Bridge. After finding out design in Finland and Germany, she established her personal lighting design firm in 1968. Her work has helped set up lighting as a creative self-discipline, with main tasks extending throughout Europe and Asia.
Toyo Ito, 85, is an internationally acclaimed Japanese architect identified for progressive buildings that mix superior engineering with natural shapes and open areas. His main works embody Sendai Mediatheque, the National Taichung Theater in Taiwan and Gifu Media Cosmos. Winner of the celebrated Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2013, he has additionally promoted community-centered structure and reconstruction initiatives following pure disasters.
Tsuneyoshi Kuroiwa, 84, is a professor emeritus on the University of Tokyo who has made necessary discoveries about how mitochondria and chloroplasts, the energy-producing constructions inside cells, divide and reproduce. His analysis has superior understanding of mobile evolution, organelle inheritance and the elemental mechanisms that maintain life. He can also be identified for pioneering analysis utilizing primitive crimson algae to analyze cell biology.
Tetsuya Shiokawa, 81, is a distinguished scholar of French literature and professor emeritus on the University of Tokyo. He is internationally acknowledged for his analysis on the Seventeenth-century French thinker and mathematician Blaise Pascal. His research of Pascal’s non secular and philosophical writings, significantly “Pensées,” have earned recognition in each Japan and France. He has additionally translated main French literary and philosophical works into Japanese.
Shigekazu Nagata, 77, is a number one molecular biologist and immunologist affiliated with Osaka University, internationally acknowledged for pioneering analysis into apoptosis, the method of programmed cell loss of life. His discoveries involving the Fas protein and Fas ligand helped clarify how cells are instructed to destroy themselves, offering necessary insights into immune regulation, most cancers and autoimmune ailments.
Shigeru Miyamoto, 73, who was additionally chosen for the 2026 Order of Culture however didn’t attend the ceremony, is a legendary Nintendo sport designer and creator of Mario, Donkey Kong and The Legend of Zelda. His pioneering work over almost 5 many years has remodeled the worldwide online game business and helped set up video video games as a serious type of cultural and creative expression.
Source: TBS