Regarding the "big guns" in the gold rectangles in the Meikan: they are headed with the term for "excellence". The extract from Jim Breen's WWWJDIC is as follows, for those interested:
優秀 【ゆうしゅう】 (adj-na,n) superiority; excellence; (P)

BTW the Meikan is loosely patterned after the charts called Banzuke put out for Sumo wrestling, where the rikishi are ranked, with the Grand Champions (Yokozuna) shown in the largest type and then the descending ranks listed in smaller and smaller type.

Cheers,

Huiray.