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PARIS- Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO, expressed her deep sadness at the death of Professor Ikuo Hirayama, UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador, on December 2, at the age of 79.

“UNESCO has lost a friend,” she said. “For more than 20 years, Professor Hirayama lent his tireless support to the Organization’s projects, especially in the fields of education, emergency relief and reconstruction. He was particularly concerned with making people aware of the value of cultural heritage as a basis for mutual understanding. He will be missed and remembered fondly by all at UNESCO.”

Professor Hirayama, a survivor of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in 1945, became an eminent painter and public figure. Campaigning for the preservation and restoration of the world’s cultural heritage, he publicized the activities of what he called the “Red Cross Spirit for Cultural Heritage”. This movement aims to help people in conflict or extreme poverty with financial and technical aid for the preservation of their cultural heritage.

A UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador since 1989, Professor Hirayama promoted the preservation of Cambodia’s Angkor Wat temples, China's Mogao Caves, Afghanistan's Bamiyan Buddhist monuments and North Korea’s Koguryo Mural Tombs. He also funded the Ikuo Hirayama Silk Road Fellowship Program, which awards fellowships to 100 young Silk Road researchers throughout the world.

a survivor of the atomic bombings....

Ikuo Hirayama is pictured in front of his works at the Hirayama Ikuo Museum of Art. (Mainichi)

Ikuo Hirayama is pictured in this Dec. 18, 2008 file photo. (Mainichi)

Painter Ikuo Hirayama died of stroke at a hospital in Tokyo early Wednesday, it's been learned. He was 79 years old.

Hirayama, an Order of Culture recipient and multi-award winning painter, was best known for his Silk Road-themed works.

However, Hirayama used to refer to his birthplace, Ikuchi Island in the Hiroshima Prefecture city of Onomichi, as the starting point of his career. At his lectures and in his literary works, Hirayama often talked about the island's abundant nature and warm residents, thanking his hometown for raising him.

His gratitude for the island grew even more when the Hirayama Ikuo Museum of Art was established there in April 1997. It was built by the town of Setoda -- later merged into Onomichi -- to revitalize the area. The museum, whose curator is Hirayama's 67-year-old brother Sukenari, boasts a collection of some 2,200 works by Hirayama, including 1,800 drawings from his childhood and 100 watercolor paintings.

Ikuchi Island is located roughly in the middle of the Setouchi Shimanami Kaido expressway that opened in May 1999, which connects Onomichi and the Ehime Prefecture city of Imabari, going through several islands.

Hirayama spent nearly a year producing the masterpiece titled "Shimanami Kaido Gojusan Tsugi" from April 1998, depicting islands and bridges along the expressway and expressing his love for his hometown.

In 2005, Hirayama unveiled a 1.83-meter-long and 3.62-meter-wide pair of screen paintings portraying modern Kyoto, titled "Rakuchu Rakugai-zu," for which he had sketched from a helicopter.

On his visit to Ikuchi Island in April in the same year to display the work there, Hirayama said, "I was going to portray Kyoto some day while depicting the Silk Road and Nara. I painted Kyoto's 1,000 years through modern eyes."

Year-End Jumbo lottery tickets went on sale across Japan on Tuesday, with more than a thousand wannabe billionaires queuing up at a lottery stand in Tokyo's Ginza district from early in the morning.

Up for grabs are 70 200 million yen first prizes, 140 50 million yen prizes for the numbers before and after the first prize, 140 100 million yen second prizes and 7,000 1 million yen "Cheerful in 2010" prizes.

Some 1,050 people lined up for the release of the tickets at 8:30 a.m. at the Nishi Ginza Chance Center in Tokyo's Chuo Ward.

"I purchase lottery tickets every year, and I'm convinced I can win. If I don't believe that, I can never win," said Sakae Yamada, 55, a company employee from the Gunma Prefecture city of Tatebayashi, who waited in the queue from 6:30 a.m.

Nearly 430 people were also lined up for tickets at 8 a.m. at a lottery stand in front of Osaka Station.

"It's difficult to keep up our mortgage payments since my winter bonus was halved. If I win the lottery, I'm going to pay back my mortgage in one go and take my family of five on holiday," said Kazuki Kobayashi, 39, who dropped by the stand on his way to work.

Yoshimi Horie, 50, a housewife from the Osaka Prefecture city of Suita, was also among the purchasers dreaming of winning the lottery. "I want to travel around the world with my friends if I won the first prize," said Horie.

The Year-End Jumbo lottery tickets will be on sale until Dec. 22, with the draw held on Dec. 31.