News
News
April 28, 2026
[Award] Medal with Purple Ribbon (Spring 2026) — Professor Emeritus Kiyoharu Aizawa —
Professor Emeritus Kiyoharu Aizawa of the Graduate School of Information Science and Technology at the University of Tokyo has been awarded the Medal with Purple Ribbon (Spring 2026) in recognition of his outstanding contributions to image engineering and media processing.
Professor Emeritus Aizawa has conducted pioneering research spanning from fundamental theory through real-world applications, contributing significantly to areas such as multimedia information processing, smart sensing, lifelogging, and multimodal AI. His work has been widely recognized both in Japan and internationally.
He has received several prestigious honors, including IEICE Yonezawa Founders Medal (1990), the IBM Japan Science Prize (2002), IEEE Fellow (2016), the Commendation for Science and Technology by MEXT (2025), and the NHK Broadcasting Culture Award (2026).
Professor Emeritus Kiyoharu Aizawa
Message from Professor Toshihiko Yamasaki
Department of Information and Communication Engineering
Graduate School of Information Science and Technology,The University of Tokyo
I would like to extend my heartfelt congratulations to Professor Emeritus Kiyoharu Aizawa on receiving the Medal with Purple Ribbon.
I have had the privilege of working closely with him for many years since I joined the university. He has consistently led pioneering research across a wide range of areas, including image coding, smart sensing, lifelogging and food logging, manga image processing, and 360-degree video processing, and has played a leading role in advancing multimedia information processing both in Japan and internationally.
In addition to his outstanding academic achievements, he is a dedicated educator and mentor. He has guided students and young researchers with warmth and respect, and his integrity and commitment to scholarship continue to inspire deep respect.
This award is a well-deserved recognition of his long-standing contributions to academia and society. I am personally delighted and proud, and I sincerely wish him continued good health and success.
