Past laureates include John B. Gurdon, Motoo Kimura, Edward O. Wilson, Ernst Mayr, Thomas Cavalier-Smith, Yoshinori Ohsumi and many other great biologists in the world.

The laureate is awarded a beautiful medal, 10 million yen, and an international symposium on the scientist's area of research is held in Tokyo.

The Prize is awarded in accordance with the following criteria: The Emperors of Japan have been famous for their special interest in science, in particular biology.

Emperor Akihito has strived over many years to advance the study taxonomy of gobioid fishes.

[2] It was a particularly charming moment when Emperor of Japan, Akihito, who has studied the taxonomy and evolution of gobioid fishes, mentioned in his congratulatory address during the award ceremony that he has used the neighbor-joining method to construct phylogenetic trees during his studies of these fishes.Source: Japan Society for the Promotion of Science United States United States