On Saturday, March 22, I attended the 17th Japanese Speech Contest held in Nairobi, Kenya. This event provides an opportunity for Kenyan students learning Japanese to showcase the fruits of their hard work, and once again, this year featured exceptionally high-level speeches.
Prize winners and judges
Passionate Speeches
In the General Category of the speech contest, 10 participants competed. Without reading from a script, they memorized their speeches entirely. Japanese is known to be one of the most challenging languages to master in the world. Achieving fluency requires an immense amount of practice and dedication. Each participant demonstrated a strong passion for the Japanese language and a deep interest in Japanese culture. Their dedication left a lasting impression.
Sponsorship and Support
As one of the sponsors, our company contributed by donating kanji practice notebooks, specially designed with images of our ships on the cover. We hope these materials will be beneficial to those learning Japanese. Additionally, 17 other companies and organizations supported the contest, highlighting the widespread commitment to Japanese language education.
Dance performance by high school students
Speech by Our Representative
Mikio Oyama, our East Africa Representative, delivered a speech as the sponsor representative. He highly praised the participants for their commitment to learning Japanese and for their outstanding proficiency. When he shared that among the three individuals recently decided to be hired by Yamaguchi Sangyo in March, two were past top contestants of this very speech contest, the audience responded with a round of applause.
Furthermore, Oyama stated, "Language is not just a tool for communication - It is a key that opens doors to your future!" He encouraged the participants to continue their Japanese studies and carve out their own paths toward a bright future.
Speech of Mikio Oyama
The Strong Bond Between Japan and Kenya
Through this speech contest, I was once again reminded of the remarkable relationship between Kenya and Japan. I firmly believe that more young people will continue to serve as bridges between our two nations through their Japanese studies. This event reaffirmed my confidence in the bright future of Japan-Kenya relations.
Looking Forward to Next Year
This year’s speech contest was truly impressive. I am already looking forward to hearing even more high-level Japanese speeches at next year’s event. I sincerely hope that all the participants will continue to grow and shine on next year’s stage.
