Nintendo executive fellow Shigeru Miyamoto has been named to receive Japan’s Order of Culture, marking the first time the prestigious national honor has been awarded for achievements in the video game industry.
The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology announced the selection on Friday, placing the 73-year-old game creator among eight recipients for the fiscal 2026 honors. Emperor Naruhito will present the medal to Miyamoto during an official ceremony at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo on November 3, a national holiday known as Culture Day.
Historic Recognition for the Video Game Industry
Japanese media outlets, including NTV and the Yomiuri Shimbun, reported that Miyamoto’s award represents the first instance of the Order of Culture recognizing the field of video games. The distinction sits above the Person of Cultural Merit honor that Miyamoto received on October 29, 2019, which previously made him the first game developer to achieve that designation.
Other recipients of the fiscal 2026 honors announced alongside Miyamoto include lighting designer Motoko Ishii, 88, and Kenso Soai, 76, a professor emeritus at Tokyo University of Science who won this year’s Nobel Prize in Chemistry in the field of synthetic organic chemistry. The government additionally selected 21 individuals as Persons of Cultural Merit, a group that features jazz saxophonist Sadao Watanabe, 93, and animation film director Rintaro, whose legal name is Shigeyuki Hayashi, 85, known for films such as Galaxy Express 999.
Following the Imperial Palace ceremony on November 3, a separate celebration honoring the Persons of Cultural Merit will take place at a hotel in Tokyo on November 4.
Speaking at a press conference at Nintendo’s headquarters, Miyamoto reflected on the acknowledgment with characteristic humility.
“I’m a bit embarrassed”, noting that games aren’t made by him alone, but by a large number of people. He said he accepts the honour as a representative of everyone who has worked with him in the past.
Shigeru Miyamoto, Nintendo
Decades of Franchise Building at Nintendo
He subsequently took on leadership of Nintendo’s game development after being appointed head of the newly established Information Development Section in 1983. Over the subsequent decades, he shaped the trajectory of the Kyoto-based company and global popular culture through enduring characters and design conventions.
His early credits include the 1981 arcade game Donkey Kong, which introduced the character who would become Mario. In 1983, he co-directed the side-scrolling Mario Bros., helping Nintendo establish a commercial foothold in North America following the video game crash of the early 1980s. Drawing on childhood walks through the rural Japanese countryside, Miyamoto co-created and designed The Legend of Zelda in 1986.
Later, as producer for 1998’s The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, he guided the series’ transition from a two-dimensional top-down perspective to a three-dimensional third-person view, establishing interaction standards that remain foundational across modern game development. Ocarina of Time
is frequently cited among the greatest video games ever created, and its highly anticipated remake is scheduled for release on November 5.
Expanding Beyond Consoles Into Cinema
In recent years, Miyamoto now serves as Nintendo’s Representative Director Fellow, focusing on the company’s creative direction and the broader utilization of its intellectual properties. His creative direction has extended well beyond interactive software. He has served as a central figure in Nintendo’s broader intellectual property strategy, contributing to theme park attractions like Super Nintendo World and major cinematic adaptations.
He produced The Super Mario Bros. Movie, released in 2023, which grossed more than $1.3 billion worldwide. He followed it as a producer on The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, which achieved more than $1 billion in global box office returns following its April release. Miyamoto also serves as a producer on an upcoming The Legend of Zelda film adaptation, scheduled for release on April 30, 2027.