Japan awards former minister Pandey with Order of the Rising Sun award

Japan is awarding former foreign minister Ramesh Nath Pandey with 2020 Autumn Imperial Decorations.

Pandey is one of the foreign recipients of the 2020 Autumn Imperial Decorations, according to a press note issued by the Japanese Embassy in Kathmandu.

Pandey, who is also an author of many popular books including Kutniti Ra Rajniti (Diplomacy and Politics) and Kranti Ra Pratikranti (Revolution and Counter-Revolution), will receive the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun for his contribution towards strengthening the relationship between Japan and Nepal, the Japanese Embassy press note reads, adding that “Pandey as then foreign minister visited Japan with Crown Prince Paras and Crown Princess Himani in 2005 to open the Nepal Pavilion in the Aichi Expo '05. “He had at that time close personal relations with the former Prime Minister of Japan Ryutaro Hashimoto.”

They cooperated with each other to help organise the 50 year anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries in 2006," the press note adds. “In his stint as Minister for Tourism, Pandey patronised the Japan-Nepal-China trilateral expedition of Mt Everest in 1986.” He also issued a stamp of a Japanese monk Ekai Kawaguchi, who was the first Japanese visitor to Nepal, when he was minister of Information and Communications in 2002.

Japanese Decorations are conferred upon foreigners twice a year, on April 29 and November 3, concurrently with the conferment of decorations and medals on Japanese nationals. The Order of the Rising Sun is bestowed upon individuals of merit in recognition of their outstanding contributions to the nation or public. The award is also conferred upon foreign nationals, who have made notable contributions to the promotion of relations between Japan and other countries in areas such as politics and diplomacy, research and education, medicine and social welfare, economy and industry, and culture and sports.