Gundam Creator Yoshiyuki Tomino Receives Kanagawa Cultural Award
Gundam creator Yoshiyuki Tomino received the 71st annual Kanagawa Cultural Award for his work on anime and his influence both in Japan and overseas. Tomino received the award at Kanagawa Prefectural Hall on Thursday for Culture Day.
The award commemorates people who have made outstanding achievements in the development of arts and culture in the Kanagawa prefecture. It is a joint project between the prefecture and Kanagawa Shimbun.
Tomino was born in Odawara in Kanagawa Prefecture on November 5, 1941.
Tomino created and directed the Mobile Suit Gundam anime in 1979. He made his debut at Osamu Tezuka‘s Mushi Production where he worked on the Astro Boy television anime. He has since directed anime including Zeta Gundam, Gundam ZZ, Char’s Counterattack, Gundam F91, Victory Gundam, Turn A Gundam, Muteki Kōjin Daitarn 3, Space Runaway Ideon, Aura Battler Dunbine, and Gundam: Reconguista in G.
The Japanese government honored Tomino as a Person of Cultural Merit in 2021. Tomino received the Tokyo Anime Award Festival’s (TAAF) Achievement Award in 2020. Japan’s Agency for Cultural Affairs gave Tomino the Commissioner for Cultural Affairs award in 2019. He was appointed as Odawara’s hometown ambassador in July 2021, and he received the Odawara Citizen’s Merit Award last February.
