Abe Congratulates Nobel Winner Honjo

October 2, 2018

Tokyo- Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe congratulated Tasuku Honjo, professor at Kyoto University, on Monday for winning the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for developing a cancer therapy making use of the immune system.

"As Japanese, I feel incredibly proud (of his achievement)," Abe told Honjo over the phone, while praising him for having given many cancer patients "hope and light" by developing the effective therapy.

"I experienced many hardships when I had little money (for proceeding with the research)," Honjo replied. He then thanked for the phone call. Abe, too, thanked Honjo, saying, "(The immune therapy) has saved the life of a person I owe a great deal."

The prime minister also hailed Honjo for proposing superb and practical ideas when the professor was serving as a member of the Cabinet Office's Council for Science, Technology and Innovation under the first Abe administration. Jiji Press