July 24, 2009
Itaru Tomiya, Professor at the Kyoto University (KU) Institute for Research in Humanities, has won the Commander of the Royal Order of the Polar Star, an honored award bestowed upon foreign nationals who have contributed to the Kingdom of Sweden in the fields of politics, economy, academia, and arts and culture.
The award ceremony was held in the Kingdom of Sweden on July 6.
Profile of Itaru Tomiya (Professor at the Institute for Research in Humanities): graduated from an undergraduate program at KU Faculty of Letters in March 1975; partially completed a doctoral program at KU Graduate School of Letters in March 1979; began work as Research Associate at KU Institute for Research in Humanities on April 1, 1979; began work as Lecturer at the Department of Liberal Arts of Osaka University in October 1985; began work as Assistant Professor at KU Institute for Research in Humanities in April 1990; earned a Doctorate of Philosophy in March 1997; and assumed position of Professor at KU Institute For Research In Humanities in April 2000.
Prof. Tomiya has won the award for his joint academic research with the Swedish Royal Academy, Stockholm University, and the National Museum of Ethnology in Sweden. He has been researching documents written on wood and paper (from the 3rd to 5th centuries) that were excavated at the Loulan Ruins in Central Asia at the beginning of the 20th century by Sven Hedin, a renowned Swedish explorer. Prof. Tomiya has also carried out research on the history of capital punishment system in East Asia, including China, Japan, Korea, India and Nepal, as well as on other ideological, ethnological and sociological themes. The results of such research are published in Written Materials from the Sand (Kyoto University Press) and Capital Punishment in East Asia (Kyoto University Press). Focusing on these themes, he held a symposium twice at the Swedish Embassy in Japan, contributing tremendously to the development of the humanities and academic exchange between Sweden and Japan.
In consideration of this impressive background, Prof. Tomiya has been presented with the award.