03 November 2010

On 3 November 2010, the Government of Japan announced that it was to confer a decoration on Mr Philip Malins, MBE, MC, Chairperson of the International Friendship and Reconciliation Trust.

Mr Malins, born in Birmingham in 1919, is to receive the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Rays, for his tireless contribution to post-Second World War reconciliation between the UK and Japan. As a Second World War veteran who fought in the then Burma, he was acutely aware of the need to promote post-war reconciliation between the two countries. He therefore took a number of initiatives and strenuously worked in concert with other individuals and organisations to facilitate dialogue between our two countries and bring about better mutual understanding and reconciliation.