On October 17, the Japanese government announced 8 recipients of the 2025 Order of Culture and 21 recipients of the Person of Cultural Merit. Professor Hisashi Yamamoto, Distinguished Professor at Chubu University and Director of the Peptide Research Center, was awarded the Order of Culture, and Professor Mitsuo Sawamoto (Frontier Research Institute) and Fellow Yuki Konagaya (Academy of Emerging Sciences) were selected as Person of Cultural Merit.
Professor Sawamoto developed a new polymerization reaction utilizing metal catalysts in the synthesis of polymers. This method, “Precision Radical Polymerization”, enabled an unprecedented level of control over the structure and chemical composition of polymers, making possible the creation of new materials, such as advanced composite materials, advanced coatings, dispersants, solid electrolytes for batteries, and biomedical polymers.
Fellow Konagaya is a cultural anthropologist who has long been engaged in Mongolian studies at the National Museum of Ethnology. In 1979, she became the first Japanese woman to study abroad as a government-sponsored exchange student during the socialist era in Mongolia. Through both fieldwork and documentary research, she explored Mongolia’s nomadic culture, contributing significantly to the advancement of Mongolian studies, ethnology, and cultural anthropology.