An award ceremony of a Josai International University Honorary Doctoral Degree to Mr. Erno Bohar, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Embassy of the Republic of Hungary in Japan, was held at the Hungarian Embassy in Tokyo on May 18, 2011 participated by about 45 people, consisting of Embassy officials, Josai University/Josai International University faculty members, students from Hungary, and Japanese students who had studied in Hungary. This was because the award ceremony that would have been held in conjunction with the Josai International University graduation ceremony on March 18, 2011 was rescheduled due to the Great East Japan Earthquake.

JIU Chancellor Noriko Mizuta presented the Josai International University Honorary Doctoral Degree certificate and awarded the title of honorary professor to Ambassador Bohar, and Vice President Ishida explained the reasons for the award.

Ambassador Bohar has helped realize the Hungarian President's visit to Josai University Educational Corporation, hold remote classes, connecting Tokyo and Budapest, and set up the Mizuta Hungary Scholarship to commemorate the visit by President Sólyom László of the Republic of Hungary to the Corporation ever since assuming his duties four years ago. Moreover, he has provided significant support for the construction of a broad network between this university and major universities in Hungary.

Thus, Ambassador Bohar has acted as an important intermediary between Japan and Hungary, positively promoted educational and cultural activities for the young people of the two countries, and actively and personally participated in the above activities, which greatly contributed to the promotion of exchanges between Japan and Hungary and the improvement of the reputation of this university inside Hungary. His achievements as outlined above are highly evaluated and have led to the award this time.

Ambassador Bohar said, “I am very pleased to be a member of Josai. I will continue working for Japan-Hungary relations as well as for Josai. It is my great pleasure to visit Josai International University every year to give classes.”

Lastly, the student representatives of the universities gave a speech to celebrate the award of the honorary doctorate. Ambassador Bohar happily watched them giving a speech in both Hungarian and Japanese, demonstrating the progress they have made in learning the languages.