The Yomiuri Shimbun
Susumu Kitagawa, left, and Shimon Sakaguchi converse during the Swedish Embassy-hosted reception in Tokyo on Monday.
20:00 JST, October 14, 2025
The two Japanese winners of this year’s Nobel prizes attended a reception hosted by the Swedish Embassy at a hotel in Minato Ward, Tokyo, on Monday. The laureates are University of Osaka specially appointed professor Shimon Sakaguchi, 74, who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, and Kyoto University distinguished professor Susumu Kitagawa, 74, who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
The prize ceremony will be held on Dec. 10 in Stockholm. The embassy invited the two laureates to the reception in Tokyo, which was held in honor of Swedish Crown Princess Victoria’s visit to Japan, to celebrate the announcements of the prizes. Crown Princess Victoria, who expressed surprise that there were two winners from Japan, said she looks forward to seeing them again in December and took photos with the two.
“It is a tremendous honor,” Sakaguchi told reporters.
Kitagawa said, “Because I am here with Professor Sakaguchi, whom I’ve known for many years, I feel relaxed.”
