Top > What's up around the Prime Minister > April, 2005

Japan Prize Laureates Pay a Courtesy Call on Prime Minister Thursday, April 21, 2005 Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi received a courtesy call from the "Japan Prize" laureates at the Prime Minister's Official Residence and talked with them. The Japan Prize is awarded to people from all over the world whose original and outstanding achievements in science and technology contributed to its progress and serve the cause of peace and prosperity for humankind. The Japan Prize laureates for 2005, the 21st year of the awards, include Dr. Makoto Nagao, for his "pioneering contribution to natural language processing and intellectual image processing" in the field of information and media technology. In the field of cell biology, the prize was awarded to Dr. Masatoshi Takeichi and Dr. Erkki Ruoslahti from the United States of America, for their "fundamental contribution in elucidating the molecular mechanisms of cell adhesion." On behalf of the laureates, Dr. Nagao stated, "We will all continue to pursue research that will lead to the further development of society."