Japan to confer highest medal to Himalaya SJB Rana

 The Government of Japan has announced the foreign recipients of the 2021 Autumn Imperial Decorations naming Himalaya Shumsher Jung Bahadur Rana as one of the recipients.

"Founding governor of the central bank of Nepal and former finance secretary Himalaya Shumsher Jung Bahadur (SJB) Rana was awarded the Order of Japan (The Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star) among foreign nationals among this year’s 2021 Imperial Decorations conferred by the Government of Japan, according to a press note issued by the Embassy Of Japan in Kathmandu.

Rana was recognised for his efforts to initiate economic ties between Japan and Nepal after he had visited Japan and witnessed Japan’s rapid economic recovery form World War II devastation, the press note reads, adding that he had also successfully persuaded the board of central bank to open the bank account at the Bank of Japan (BoJ) in 1960s, believing that could lead to the activation of economic relations between the two countries. "The Nepal Rastra Bank was the first foreign central bank that had opened an account at the BoJ."

Rana’s great grandfather Dev Shumsher Jung Bahadur Rana, the Prime Minister of Nepal in 1901 had decided to send the first Nepali students to study in Japan. People to people contacts between Japan and Nepal began with the visit of Japanese monk Kawaguchi Ekai to Nepal in 1899 and with the travel of eight Nepali students to Japan in 1902.

Rana tried to make this fact known to Nepali people at every opportunity, including at the symposium on the centennial celebrations of Nepali students in Japan in 2002, and he had delivered a lecture on the same theme at the annual meeting of the Japan University Alumni Association of Nepal (JUAAN), the press note further reads.

The Embassy, in the press notes, also congratulated Rana on being conferred with the Order of Japan. Next year will be the Japan Southwest Asia Exchange year and marks 120 years after the first batch of eight Nepali students had travelled to Japan in 1902. Japanese decorations are conferred upon foreigners twice a year, on 29th April and 3rd November, 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 for excellence in politics and diplomacy, research and education, medicine and social welfare, economy and industry, and culture and sports, the embassy press note adds.