Late Japanese Researcher Wins Ig Nobel Prize for Nose-Blowing

Zurich, Sept. 3 (Jiji Press)--A late Japanese researcher won this year's Ig Nobel Prize in medicine on Thursday for an aerodynamic study of how to blow one's nose properly.

It is the 20th straight year for a Japanese researcher to receive an Ig Nobel Prize, a spoof of the Nobel Prize that honors humorous but creative research.

The medicine prize was given to the late Tokuji Unno, professor emeritus at Asahikawa Medical University in the northernmost Japan prefecture of Hokkaido, who died at the age of 89 in 2022.

The award ceremony in Zurich, northern Switzerland, was attended by Miki Takahara, professor at the university, on behalf of Unno.

Exploring the question of what it means to blow one's nose well, Unno conducted a study that aerodynamically measured and analyzed the speed and amount of nasal breathing and the pressure on the ears of 15 people aged 14 to 48.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]