An American educator and a Japanese musician were recognized on Thursday by America-Japan Society Inc. for their longtime grassroots work toward deepening ties between Japan and the United States.
The two were honored with the third Kaneko Award, which was founded in 2017 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the launch of the society and was named after its first president, Count Kentaro Kaneko.
The recipients are Helen Rindsberg, a 70-year-old arts teacher from Cincinnati, and 83-year-old country music singer Charlie Nagatani, from the city of Kumamoto.