Know George Lucas's Star Wars (1977) and you can guess the plot of Kurosawa's The Hidden Fortress (1958).

CNN: Kurosawa Akira

The exuberance of Kurosawa's imagery was matched by a vision almost comic in its bleakness.

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Kurosawa's epic masterpiece The Seven Samurai (1954) became the 1960 Western The Magnificent Seven.

CNN: Kurosawa Akira

But by the late 1960s Kurosawa's costly standards were unaffordable as color TV seduced the public.

CNN: Kurosawa Akira

But Kurosawa's most lasting influence has been on succeeding generations of Asian filmmakers.

CNN: Kurosawa Akira

Even Kurosawa's modern-day films were set in a landscape of mortal betrayal.

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But Kurosawa's influence was deeper, broader.

CNN: ASIANOW - TIME Asia

Other recipients of the award include film director Akira Kurosawa and Japan's women's national soccer team that won the World Cup in 2011.

WSJ: Matsui given People's Honor Award by Japanese PM

Contrary to the West's perception of Kurosawa as a prophet unappreciated in his own land, every one of a dozen films, from Rashomon to Red Beard 15 years later, was a smash hit.

CNN: Kurosawa Akira