Japan Office

Photograph by John Cairns

A new initiative – the ‘Kyoto Prize at Oxford’ was held in the Blavatnik School of Government for the first time on 9 – 10 May 2017.

The three 2016 laureates of the prize –  Dr Tasuku Honjo (2016 Kyoto Prize Laureate for Basic Sciences), Dr Martha Craven Nussbaum (2016 Kyoto Prize Laureate for Arts ad Philosophy) and Dr Takeo Kanade (2016 Kyoto Prize Laureate for Advanced Technology) – all visited Oxford and gave workshops and lectures to students and faculty. They also took part in a panel discussion moderated by Dean of the Blavatnik School Professor Ngaire Woods, on the values underpinning their work. The event was live-streamed around the world. Legendary Japanese businessman, Kazuo Inamori, founder of Kyocera and KDDI, ex-Chairman of Japan Airlines, and founder of the Kyoto Prize, also attended the event and gave a talk entitled “From a society of greed to a society of altruism”

The Kyoto Prize at Oxford will now be an annual event. The Inamori Foundation recently announced the 2017 Kyoto Prize laureates. They are semiconductor engineer Dr Takashi Mimura (Advanced Technology), plant physiologist Dr Graham Farquhar (Basic Sciences) and musicologist Dr Richard Taruskin. We are looking forward to welcoming them to Oxford on 8-9 May 2018 for the second Kyoto Prize at Oxford.

For a video of highlights of the event, pictures and reports, and more information about the Kyoto Prize at Oxford please see the Blavatnik School of Government’s Kyoto Prize at Oxford website.