Nihongo Cup Finals held at Embassy
Ambassador Nogami, event organisers and
the top speakers of each category
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Young learners of Japanese from around the UK gathered at the Embassy on 23 April to compete in the Finals of the JLC Japanese Speech Contest for Secondary Schools (Nihongo Cup).
The event was co-organised by the Japanese Language Committee (JLC) of the Association for Language Learning, the Embassy of Japan and the Japan Foundation London with the aim of supporting the study of Japanese at school level in the UK, which has increased dramatically in the last decade.
Eighteen finalists selected from more than 100 entries delivered speeches on the theme of 'Friends' in front of an audience of 120 friends, parents, teachers and key figures from the language and Japan-related fields.
Winner of the Key Stage 3 category was Stephanie Tress from Kingston Grammar School, and the best speaker in Key Stage 4 was Miriam Starling from Hendon School. The Key Stage 5 category, added for the first time this year, was won by Lee Anderson from Harris City Technology College, who was delighted to receive an invitation to visit Japan.
Ambassador Nogami congratulated the finalists on their achievement and said he hoped that they would keep up their Japanese skills so that demand for the subject would remain strong at tertiary level. "I am sure that the increasing number of people studying Japanese in this country will strengthen the relationship between Japan and the UK," he concluded.
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