Japanese Nobel Winners Attend Tokyo Reception

Tokyo, Oct. 14 (Jiji Press)–Two Japanese winners of this year’s Nobel prizes attended a reception for Swedish Crown Princess Victoria hosted by the Swedish Embassy in Tokyo on Monday evening. It was the first time they had appeared together in public since being named Nobel laureates last week, according to the winners–University of Osaka professor Shimon Sakaguchi, 74, one of the three winners of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, and Susumu Kitagawa, 74, special professor at Kyoto University, who was named one of the three winners of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. The two firmly shook hands when they met at the reception. Sakaguchi told reporters that he was “honored to meet” Kitagawa. “I have known (Sakaguchi) for a long time, so I feel relaxed,” Kitagawa said. The reception was also attended by Sakaguchi’s wife, Noriko, who is a visiting academic at the University of Osaka, and Ryoji Noyori, the winner of the 2001 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]