Orders, decorations, and medals of Japan

[1] Orders and decorations in Japan consist of the conferral of honours and awards, medals, and titles (the latter abolished in 1947), which were established during the Meiji period as a system for the state to recognise individuals' achievements.

[2] The Decoration Bureau of the Cabinet Office is responsible for administrative duties relating to the conferment of awards, research on the honours system, and planning.

[3] The awarding of honours is one of the prescribed constitutional functions of the Emperor of Japan, with the advice of the Cabinet.

Ordinarily the highest regularly awarded honour, it is conferred in a single class (Grand Cordon); typically awarded to Japanese prime ministers, senior statesmen, select foreign heads of government, distinguished cabinet ministers and jurists.

The third through sixth classes are ordinarily conferred upon individuals who have made significant contributions to Japan in varying degrees.

Since the revision of the honours system in 2003, the Order of the Sacred Treasure has been awarded to civil servants for their long-term contributions.

They include government and local officials, military personnel, scholars of national universities, and school teachers.

Established in 1937, this is a single-class order of merit to honour those who have made outstanding contributions to Japanese culture.

In this technique, a skilled craftsman manually adds colours to the transfer paper one by one, which takes several days.

[13][14] As of November 2024, a total of 174,842 orders have been conferred upon living Japanese nationals since 2003, when the honours system was overhauled.