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TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – Poet, essayist, who is also a painter, Mohamad Goenawan received an award from the Japan Foundation Award 2022 during the foundation’s 50th anniversary celebration. The award was presented to GM, as the 81-year-old is usually called, on Wednesday October 19, 2022 at the Grand Prince Takanawa Hotel, Tokyo, Japan.

In addition to Goenawan, the other laureates are Robert Lepage, actor, playwright and director of theater and cinema from Canada. The recipients of the award are not only individuals, but also the Korea-Japan Association, a South Korean institution that promotes friendship between the two countries.

The reason why Goenawan Mohamad received the award

“Goenawan has come to Japan several times to discuss freedom of expression,” Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayasha said during a speech at the award ceremony. According to Hayashi, GM plays an important role in developing ideas that strengthen relations between Japan and Indonesia.

Goenawan is also seen as an active defender of freedom of speech and fighting for freedom of the press. The committee judges, the founder of the Magazine Tempo he was one of the Asian intellectual giants of his generation.

In his remarks, Goenawan expressed his gratitude for receiving this award. He gave an example, in Ukraine, despite the pandemic and the war, the future is promising and anxiety-provoking. “In a dark moment, I see that our future is not really the future, but a response to past disasters,” he said.

Goenawan Mohamad receiving the Japan Foundation Prize in Tokyo, Wednesday evening October 19, 2022. Photo: courtesy

Japan Foundation Tradition

Since 1973, the Japan Foundation has had a tradition of awarding prizes. Prizes are awarded annually to individuals and organizations. The winners were chosen because they were considered to have made a significant contribution to the promotion of mutual understanding and international friendship between Japan and other countries through academic, artistic and cultural activities.

The Japanese director, Akira Kurosawa in 1982 received this award. Likewise, the famous Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami in 2012. From Indonesia, the recipient of this award is the cultural thinker Sutan Takdir Alisyahbana (1992).

For this year, the three winners of the Japan Foundation Award 2022 have been selected among
74 applications nominated by experts and the general public. The award ceremony took place in the presence of Prince Akishino and his wife. Goenawan’s family and friends were also present at the reception. Among them Widarti Goenawan, wife and founder of the magazine FeminineCEO of Tempo Media Arif Zulkifli, Indonesian, Lance Castle and former Tempo Magazine correspondent in Japan, Saichi Okawa.

Read also: 81 years of Goenawan Mohamad, founder of Tempo Magazine

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