Emperor, Empress Speak with Order of Culture and Cultural Merit Awardees at Imperial Palace

The Yomiuri Shimbun

2:00 JST, November 8, 2023

The Emperor and Empress invited this fiscal year’s awardees of the Order of Culture and those of the Cultural Merit to the Imperial Palace on Monday and spoke with them.

The invited recipients include six Order of Culture awardees such as Saburo Kawabuchi, 86, a former president of the Japan Football Association, and 18 Cultural Merit awardees such as actor Kinya Kitaoji, 80.

In his greeting to them, the Emperor said, “I feel very glad that you have made strenuous efforts and achieved great results in the fields of academic studies, culture, arts and sports.”