*1986 – Weissberger-Williams lectureship Award
*1987 – Korean Chemical Society Award
*1989 – Chemical Society of Japan Award
*1995 – DowElanco lectureship Award
*2000 – The H. C. Brown Lecture Award
*2003 – Japan Academy Prize 
*2009 – Paul Karrer Gold Medal
*2009 – Special Member of Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC)
*2010 – Nobel Prize in Chemistry
*2010 – Order of Culture
*2010 – Person of Cultural Merit
*2011 – Member of the Japan Academy
*2011 – honored on a stamp issued by Republic of the Congo
*2016 – Honorary chair professorship, National Cheng Kung University