The government decided Friday to award the Order of Culture for fiscal 2024 to seven people, including manga artist Tetsuya Chiba, 85.
It is the first time that a manga artist has been selected for the order.
The other six are cellist Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi, 82; environmental risk management expert Junko Nakanishi, 86; commercial code expert Kenjiro Egashira, 77; poet Mutsuo Takahashi, 86; Japanese painter Toshio Tabuchi, 83; and molecular cell biology researcher Nobutaka Hirokawa, 78.
The government also chose 20 Persons of Cultural Merit.
Among them are actress Mitsuko Kusabue, 91, and Kazuo Yoshida, 77, a performer of bunraku traditional puppet plays.
Six of the 20 are women, a record high.
An award ceremony for the Order of Culture recipients will be held at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo on Nov. 3, while an accolade ceremony for the Persons of Cultural Merit will take place at a hotel in the Japanese capital on Nov. 5.
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