Engineer Yasuharu Suematsu, 81, has received the Japan Prize for his work on semiconductor lasers used in long-distance fiber-optic communications.
The prize is awarded annually to people who have made significant contributions to the development of science and technology.
The prize committee also gives an award honoring achievements in the natural sciences, which this year went to Rockefeller University professor David Allis, 63, an American.
Allis won the prize for his discovery of enzymes that govern the workings of DNA.