4,067 receive gov't awards on Culture Day

The government issued decorations on Friday to 4,028 Japanese and 39 foreign nationals, including financial leaders, lawmakers, academics and artists, for their contributions to the nation and public. Gaishi Hiraiwa, 92, the former head of the Japan Business Federation, or Nippon Keidanren, was given the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Paulownia Flowers, the highest honor in this fall's commemoration.

Fashion designer Jun Ashida, 76, Emmy Award-winning makeup artist Kaori Nara Turner, 72, singer Yuriko Futaba, 75, cartoonist Sampei Sato, 77, and actor Kunie Tanaka, 73, were also among those honored. The foreign recipients of the order include Carol Bellamy, 64, former executive director of the U.N. Children's Fund, and Enrique Iglesias, 76, a former president of the Inter-American Development Bank. Two former Australian prime ministers, Gough Whitlam, 90, and Malcolm Fraser, 76, were also chosen for the same decoration this year when Japan and Australia celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Basic Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation signed in 1976.