Popular singer-songwriter Yumi Matsutoya is among 723 people and 13 groups honored in this year's spring decorations, the government announced Sunday.

Matsutoya, 59, ballet dancer Tetsuya Kumakawa, 41, theater director Tamiya Kuriyama, 60, and Kinshi Nozawa, 55, who plays shamisen in traditional "Joruri" puppet theater, will receive the Medal with Purple Ribbon, given in recognition of contributions to the arts, academia and sport.

Other recipients include Tetsuya Terasaki, 58, a professor of pharmacy at Tohoku University, Kyoto University professor Yoshiteru Maeno, 56, who is known for his studies into superconductivity, and Mitsuo Kawato, 59, who conducts research on brain functions using humanoid robots. Kawato heads the brain information communication research group at the Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International in Kyoto.