Aristides Alafouzos, the president of Kathimerini’s board of directors, yesterday became one of only a handful of Greeks to be awarded Japan’s Order of the Rising Sun (Gold Rays with Rosette) in recognition of his “lengthy contribution to the strengthening of Greek-Japanese economic ties and understanding between the countries’ peoples,” the Japanese Embassy in Athens said in a statement.

In his capacity as a shipowner, Alafouzos showed faith in Japan’s shipbuilding industry, which “played an important role in the growth of Japanese industry in the second half of the 20th century” and which helped form a relationship that was “the base of Greek-Japanese economic and trade relations today,” the embassy said.

The award also recognizes the contribution that articles about Japan frequently published in Kathimerini have made to a better understanding between the Greek and Japanese peoples, the embassy said, adding that the award was being made on the occasion of 110 years of friendship between Japan and Greece.