Japan will introduce the Miura Award to give credit to adventurers who have accomplished their dreams and goals regardless of age, after Japanese climber Yuichiro Miura, 80, last month became the world's oldest person to scale Mount Everest, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said Thursday.
Tokyo is introducing the award in honor of Miura and to "pass his spirit of taking on difficult challenges" to future generations, Suga said.
"We'd like to give the award to adventurers who challenge themselves to the limit of human potential and give people dreams, hope and inspiration," he told a press conference, adding Miura will probably serve as the head judge responsible for picking the nominees.
It will be the first time the government has created an award since the launch in 2006 of the Hideyo Noguchi Africa award, aimed at encouraging the advancement of medical research and services in Africa. Biologist Noguchi made his name in bacteriology and died of yellow fever in Ghana in 1928 while doing research on the disease.
"It's a great honor and I would like to accept (the initiative)," Miura told reporters after meeting Prime Minister Shinzo Abe the same day at the latter's office. "I hope the award will be given to people who have taken on challenges and accomplished their dreams on a global scale."
Miura gave a Nepalese carpet to Abe and showed him photos of the 8,848-meter summit, taken May 23 when he broke the previous record set by a 76-year-old Nepalese climber.