Rumiko Takahashi receives French highest honor, Chevalier des Arts and Letters

Today, April 6, the French Embassy in Tokyo, Japan announced that the famous Japanese female cartoonist Rumiko Takahashi won the latest French state's highest honor in the literary and art world, the "Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters". Many famous Japanese cartoonists have won the award before.

The French love Japanese comics just as much as the Japanese do. France is even known as the second home of Japanese comics. It is no surprise that the highest honor in the French national literary and art circles this year, the "Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters", was awarded to a Japanese cartoonist. There are also many Japanese cartoonists among the past winners of the award, including Jiro Taniguchi, Katsuhiro Otomo, Leiji Matsumoto, Akira Toriyama, Go Nagai, etc.

The French Order of Arts and Letters was established by the French Ministry of Culture and Communications in 1957 to recognize people who have made great achievements in the fields of art or literature. It is one of the four ministerial honorary medals in France and the highest honor bestowed by the French government on the literary and artistic community.