Professor Akasaki telling reporters how he feels about attending the Nobel ceremony

Meijo University Professor Akasaki, 2014 Nobel laureate in physics, departed Haneda Airport for Stockholm early on December 6th to attend the Nobel Prize presentation ceremony. The ceremony will take place in the Stockholm Concert Hall in the evening of December 10 (early on December 11 Japan time).
Prior to the flight Professor Akasaki told how he felt about attending the ceremony at a press conference, which was held at 11:30 p.m. on December 5 in the Royal Park Hotel The Haneda at the international terminal of Haneda Airport. Looking back on many years of research on the blue light-emitting diode (LED), he told how long it had been before the discovery of blue LEDs. He said, “ I thought it was my mission to achieve the task of creating blue LEDs, an invention that had been considered impossible 40 years ago.” Referring to the Nobel lecture, he said, “I would like to express my gratitude to those who have helped me along the way.”
Professor Akasaki left for Sweden, being accompanied by Professor Satoshi Kamiyama, Associate Professor Tetsuya Takeuchi, Associate Professor Motoaki Iwaya as well as Professor Akasaki’s family members. President Toshiharu Nakae and Dean Koichi Yoshihisa, Faculty of Science and Technology, were to leave for Sweden from the Chubu International Airport in the morning on December 7.