Shigeru Miyamoto and 8 others receive the Order of Culture, the creator of Mario is the first in the game world - Sadao Watanabe and others are recognized as persons of merit

On the 23rd, the government decided to award the 2026 Order of Culture to eight people, including Shigeru Miyamoto (73), a Nintendo representative director and fellow who worked on many popular games such as the "Super Mario" series, lighting designer Mikiko Ishii (88), and Kenzo Go (76), a professor emeritus at Tokyo University of Science who has been selected to receive the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. He is the first person in the game industry to receive the Order of Culture.

Shigeru Miyamoto, recipient of the Order of Culture, ``really honored'' after 50 years of making games

A total of 21 people were selected as Persons of Cultural Merit, including jazz saxophonist Sadao Watanabe (93) and animated film director Rintaro (real name Shigeyuki Hayashi), known for films such as ``Galaxy Express 999''.

It is customary for those who are selected to win the Nobel Prize to be awarded the Order of Culture that year, and Mr. Gouji was awarded the Order of Culture as well as the Person of Merit. The parent award ceremony for the Order of Culture will be held at the Imperial Palace on November 3rd, and the ceremony for honoring those who have contributed to cultural merit will be held on November 4th at a hotel in Tokyo.

Other recipients of the Order of Culture are architect Toyo Ito (85), biological science specialist Tsuneyoshi Kuroiwa (84), French literature specialist Tetsuya Shiokawa (81), composer and former Agency for Cultural Affairs Commissioner Shunichi Tokura (78), and immunologist Shigekazu Nagata (77).

Other people who have made contributions include poet Kazuhiko Ito (83), Japanese dancer Yachiyo Inoue (real name Michiko Kanze (69)), professional golfer Ayako Okamoto (75), conductor Tadaaki Odaka (78), and people with disabilities. Kiyoshi Kakitani (84) of sports promotion; Naotake Kato (89) of philosophy and ethics; Masato Sagawa (83) of magnetic materials science; Ryukyu dancer Fusako Shida (real name: Fusako Shida (89)); Japanese painter Hiroshi Senju (68) ▽ Noh actor Akiyo Tomoeda (86) ▽ Nobuhiro Nakayama (81) in intellectual property law ▽ Naoko Nishizawa (81) in plant nutrition ▽ Eisuke Nishida (73) in molecular biology ▽ Ikuko Nishimura in plant cell biology ( 76) Composer and pianist Ichiro Nodaira (73), architectural historian and architect Terunobu Fujimori (79), energy conversion material chemist Tsutomu Miyasaka (73), and Pia president Hiroshi Yanai (76).