I was appointed to serve on the Selection Committee for the National Personnel Authority President’s Award. During the meeting, National Personnel Authority President Yuko Kawamoto instructed us to “please promote this award!”—so here’s my post.

The National Personnel Authority President’s Award recognizes the achievements of public servants or groups of public servants who, with a strong sense of responsibility as public servants dedicated to the entire nation, have diligently performed their duties and contributed to enhancing the public’s trust in public service.

This is a highly prestigious award, as the recipients are granted an audience with Their Majesties the Emperor and Empress.

With deep respect and gratitude for the many public-service endeavors that have long supported our social infrastructure, I sat in the seiza position and carefully read through the materials.

It would be presumptuous of me to attempt to evaluate this, and since the fields are so diverse, it is inherently difficult to compare them side by side, but,

After careful consideration from a variety of perspectives—including public interest, reliability, sustainability, social impact on other fields, and timing—I finally managed to make a selection. Boy, was that a tough decision…

Attendees at the meeting included Ms. Katsura Ito, an HR manager who looked after me during my time at Microsoft; Ms. Kaori Miyajima from Nippon TV, who supported me on TV shows and at the Kasumigaseki meetings; actress Yuri Nakae, who helped me on “Tokudane!”; and Ms. Harisa Awai from Island, who’s always been there for me…It was a joy to attend a meeting where I was reunited with so many people I hadn’t seen in ages.

And I was surprised by the high percentage of women! It was the exact opposite of the usual gender ratio at Kasumigaseki meetings!