Top �� What's up around the Prime Minister �� October, 2002

Awards Ceremony to Present the Prime Minister's Commendations for Business Reformers and New Venture Entrepreneurs Wednesday, October 16, 2002 An awards ceremony to present the Prime Minister's commendations for business reformers and new venture entrepreneurs was held at the Prime Minister's Official Residence. As part of the economic revitalization strategy, these commendations award managers who exercise their ability in business reform, as well as awarding entrepreneurs who have become models fostering an entrepreneurial spirit among the people. It is the first time the commendations have been awarded. Business reformer commendations were awarded to three leaders: Mr. Hiroshi Okuda of Toyota Motor Corporation, Mr. Carlos Ghosn of Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. and Mr. Fujio Mitarai of Canon, Inc. There were four recipients of new venture entrepreneur commendations: Mr. Tsuyoshi Ide of Trans Genic Inc. (Kumamoto City), a bioventure enterprise, Isamu Takeuchi of Millennium Gate Technology Co., Ltd. (Higashi-Osaka City) which developed a DNA chip, Tetsuo Yoshida of manufacturing coordinator Parchitec Inc. (Hiroshima City), and Hidetaka Wada of GMA Co., Ltd. (Asaba-cho, Shizuoka Prefecture), which developed a tube for medical use. In his congratulatory address, the Prime Minister stated, "There is no way to restore the confidence and pride of the Japanese people and to revive the Japanese economy other than through advancing structural reform. Listening to the laureates' stories, I get the feeling that the Japan's manufacture has the power to scceed and we can have confidence in that."