The Diplomat
Emperor Naruhito of Japan has awarded the Order of the Rising Sun to the President of the Xunta de Galicia, Alberto Nuñez Feijóo, and the Mayor of Málaga, Francisco de la Torre, according to the Japanese Embassy in Madrid.
The Order of the Rising Sun is awarded to both Japanese citizens and foreigners who have made outstanding achievements in their professional activity in favor of social or cultural improvements, in the strengthening of Japan’s international relations or in the promotion of Japanese culture. Last November 3, the Cabinet Office of the Government of Japan made public the list of foreign honorees for autumn 2021, which included the names of Feijoó and De la Torre.
The president of the Xunta de Galicia has received the Order of the Rising Sun, Golden Rays with Hanging Ribbon, while the mayor of Malaga has been awarded the Order of the Rising Sun, Golden Rays with Escarapela. In both cases, the decoration has been granted for their work in favor of the “promotion of interregional exchange and mutual understanding between Japan and Spain”.
The Japanese ambassador to Spain, Kenji Hiramatsu, made an official visit to Galicia last July during which he held a meeting with Núñez Feijóo to discuss, among other issues, the promotion of tourism based on the exchange between the respective pilgrimage routes: The Way of St. James, the Kumano Way (the “Japanese Way of St. James”, twinned with the Jacobean Way since 1998 and which, like the Galician Way, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site) and the Shikoku Way (which runs through 88 Buddhist temples on the island of Shikoku). Likewise, the ambassador and the president talked about collaboration in the industrial field and the promotion of Japanese culture and committed to concrete areas of collaboration between Japan and Galicia, according to the Embassy.
On the other hand, De la Torre received in October 2019 the Distinction of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Japan, which is awarded to those “individuals and entities that have contributed in an outstanding way to promote friendly relations between Japan and other countries, in different fields”.
