2022 SPRING CONFERMENT OF DECORATIONS ON FOREIGN NATIONALS
Professor T.J. Pempel
Decoration: Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon (旭日中綬章)
Service: Contributed to developing Japanese studies in the United States and promoting mutual understanding between Japan and the United States
Professor T.J. Pempel has spent over fifty years teaching and researching comparative politics, political economy, contemporary Japanese studies, and Asian regionalism at five universities in the United States, fostering the next generation of scholars. He has contributed to the development of Japanese studies in the United States and the promotion of mutual understanding between Japan and the United States.
Since 2001, for over 20 years, he has been a professor of Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley and served as the director of the Institute of East Asian Studies from 2001 to 2007. During his tenure, he has endeavored to promote intellectual exchange between academics and professionals in order to connect academia with diplomacy and public policy.