Shigeru Miyamoto is the first game creator to get Japan's Order of Culture

Japan's Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology announced on October 23 that Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto will receive the 2026 Order of Culture. As reported by Ryokutya2089, he is the first person from the video game industry to receive the honor since it was established nearly 90 years ago.

I'm not Japanese and I am just learning about this honor. I really hope I do it justice.

It's thoroughly well deserved. Anyone reading this site already knows who Miyamoto is and doesn't need a recap of how he joined Nintendo as an industrial design graduate in 1977 before creating Donkey Kong, Super Mario Bros., and The Legend of Zelda. We've all played the games, and we've all seen what his work on Super Mario 64 and Ocarina of Time did for 3D camera systems and movement. What's less familiar outside Japan is the actual weight of the medal he's getting.

Mandarin orange blossoms and an Imperial Palace ceremony

Established on February 11, 1937, the Order of Culture (Bunka-kunshō) is Japan's highest national recognition for contributions to art, literature, science, technology, and culture. Unlike the country's other state orders, which are split into multiple ranks and classes, the Order of Culture has just one single grade. You either get it, or you don't.

It's also one of the very few decorations that the Emperor of Japan personally hands to recipients. That conferment ceremony happens every year on November 3 (Culture Day) at the Tokyo Imperial Palace. The physical badge is crafted from gold and white enamel in the shape of a five-petal mandarin orange blossom (tachibana), chosen because the evergreen tree represents permanence, with three crescent-shaped jade magatama sitting in the center disc and a purple ribbon worn around the neck.

A 3.5 million yen constitutional loophole

Getting the medal isn't a surprise out of nowhere, because the selection process works as a two-step system. The Japanese Cabinet picks Order of Culture recipients from a pool of people previously designated as a Person of Cultural Merit (Bunka Kōrōsha), following recommendations from the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.

That prerequisite title actually exists because of a bureaucratic workaround. Article 14 of Japan's postwar Constitution states that no financial privilege can accompany a national award or decoration, which meant the government couldn't legally pay a pension to Order of Culture winners. To get around that restriction in 1951, lawmakers created the separate Person of Cultural Merit designation, which carries a lifetime government annuity of 3.5 million yen per year. I'm pretty sure a Nintendo Representative Director Fellow doesn't need the extra government stipend to make rent, though a lifetime pension for creating Donkey Kong is a nice perk.

Miyamoto cleared that first hurdle back in 2019 when he became the first game creator named a Person of Cultural Merit. For decades, both tiers of the system were reserved almost exclusively for Nobel laureates, traditional painters, novelists, and classical musicians, with filmmaker Akira Kurosawa taking home the medal in 1985. Pop culture creators have only recently started breaking through the old guard: Ashita no Joe creator Tetsuya Chiba became the first manga artist to receive the Order of Culture in 2024, and Dragon Ball voice actor Masako Nozawa was named a Person of Cultural Merit in 2025. Seeing interactive software finally put on equal footing with fine art and literature feels decades overdue, and there was never any question which developer would be the first through the door.