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| Ambassador Le Lidec, Mrs. Ono, Prof. Ono, Former MEXT Minister Prof. Toyama |
On 27 September, JSPS president Prof. Motoyuki Ono received the Chevalier dans l'Ordre National de la Légion d'honneur, bestowed by the President of the French Republic. A ceremony and reception were held at the French Embassy in Tokyo to present Prof. Ono with this prestigious decoration.
At the ceremony, French ambassador Monsieur Gildas Le Lidec presented Prof. Ono with the decoration, followed by a message of appreciation by Prof. Ono and a toast proposed by Prof. Atsuko Toyama, former Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. Among the some 100 people attending the ceremony were parliamentarian Mr. Yoshitaka Murata, former Minister of State and chairman of the National Public Safety Commission, and Nobel laureates Dr. Masatoshi Koshiba and Dr. Leo Esaki.
The decoration Chevalier dans l'Ordre National de la Légion d'honneur was established by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1802. Ever since, it has been awarded to recognize the meritorious service of soldiers and civilians in both times of war and peace. Given its long history and ranking as the highest formal recognition of merit bestowed by the government, the Chevalier dans l'Ordre National de la Légion d'honneur is said to be the flower of the French merit award system.
The decoration was presented to Prof. Ono for his steadfast contributions over many years, since the time he held executive posts in the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, to advancing academic and cultural activities between France and Japan, including scientific collaborations, researcher exchanges, and joint research projects and seminars. These contributions to Franco-Japanese partnership were highly appraised by the French government.
When accepting the decoration, Prof. Ono said, "As president of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Japan's core research-funding agency, I will strive to advance basic research through inter-university collaboration and to promote international exchange between our two countries. I pledge to use the prestige of this award in strengthening my efforts to further French-Japanese scientific collaboration."
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