Vietnam has honored Tetsuji Honna, conductor of the Vietnam National Symphony Orchestra, with a cultural merit award.

Honna, who has worked with the orchestra for more than 10 years, was recognized Saturday by the Cultural, Sports and Tourism Ministry in Hanoi for his contribution to music in Vietnam.

The conductor hails from Koriyama in Fukushima Prefecture, and started working as a lecturer and musical director of the orchestra in 2001. He assumed his current post in 2009 and has lived in Vietnam since 2005.

The orchestra has performed in China and Japan, among other Asian countries, over the past decade, and Honna and his ensemble successfully toured the United States last year.

In 2013, it is slated to perform a special program in Japan to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.