Japan's Emperor Presents the Order of Culture to Eight Recipients, Including Nobel Laureate Kenso Soai and, a First for Games, Shigeru Miyamoto
Tokyo — On Culture Day, November 3, the presentation ceremony for the Order of Culture was held in the Matsu-no-Ma hall of the Imperial Palace, where the Emperor personally presented the order to seven recipients in attendance. Eight people were selected for the order this year, among them game creator Shigeru Miyamoto — the first person from the field of games ever to receive it — who was absent from the ceremony.
This year's recipients are organic synthetic chemist Kenso Soai (76, honorary professor at the Tokyo University of Science and a laureate of this year's Nobel Prize in Chemistry), composer Shunichi Tokura (78), architect Toyo Ito (85), lighting designer Motoko Ishii (88), biological scientist Tsuneo Kuroiwa (84), French literature scholar Tetsuya Shiokawa (81), immunologist Shigekazu Nagata (77), and Shigeru Miyamoto (73), honored in media arts for games.
Soai discovered the asymmetric autocatalytic reaction — a reaction in which only one of two mirror-image organic compounds multiplies — which bears his name. Speaking after the ceremony, he said the national honor had renewed his resolve to carry it with him to the Nobel Prize ceremony in Sweden in December.
Tokura, a former commissioner of Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs, composed hits including Pink Lady's 'Pepper Keibu,' while Miyamoto, a Nintendo Representative Director and Fellow, created the Super Mario Bros. series. The Emperor told the recipients he was pleased by their years of work and their contributions to the advancement of culture, and expressed his hope that they would continue to serve the development of their fields.
Source: Imperial Household Agency of Japan
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：东京皇居正门石桥，文化勋章亲授式在皇居宫殿举行。照片：Ray in Manila，CC BY 2.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: The Seimon Ishibashi Bridge at the main gate of the Imperial Palace in Tokyo, where the Order of Culture presentation ceremony is held. Photo by Ray in Manila, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
