Kei Ishizaka has capped his long career in the Japanese music business by being awarded the Medal of Honor with Blue Ribbon by the Japanese government.

Ishizaka is chairman/CEO of the Recording Industry Association of Japan and chairman of Universal Music Japan. He was replaced as Universal Japan CEO on Nov. 1 by Kazu Koike.

Ishizaka, who received the award in recognition of his contribution to the development of Japanese music culture and the music industry, is the third RIAJ chairman to receive a medal of honor from the government while in office. He was among some 800 people from various fields honored by the government on Culture Day, which is observed as a national holiday each Nov. 3.

One of the Japanese music business’s more colorful characters, Ishizaka began his career in 1968 promoting international music at Toshiba Musical Industries (later known as Toshiba-EMI), a joint venture between Japanese electronics company Toshiba and EMI.

Ishizaka surprised the local music industry in 1994 when he left Toshiba-EMI to head Universal Japan predecessor PolyGram K.K., then very much an also-ran in the Japanese market. But over the past 15 years Ishizaka has built up Universal Japan into one of the territory’s biggest labels, in large part by developing a strong roster of domestic acts.

“It is a great honor for me to receive the Medal of Honor with Blue Ribbon,” said Ishizaka in a statement. “Since I entered the world of the music business some 40 years ago, I have been engaged in activities to promote the works of creative Japanese artists and introduce great foreign music works to Japanese people. And I am very happy to have played a part in introducing rich Japanese music culture to other countries.

“Music and other culture business are a barometer to gauge the power of a nation,” he added. “I hope to further promote exports of Japanese music as one of the nation's major forms of content with support from the government and people concerned.”