ZHAO ZHAO Jiaxuan, the President’s Award winner, is fourth from the left in the front rowThe President’s Award, the top prize, was awarded to ZHAO Jiaxuan, a third-year student from China in the School of Global Japanese Studies. The title of Zhao’s speech was “A New Me, Connected by ‘Kizuna’.” Focusing on the word “kizuna” (bond), which she first learned in Japanese class in junior high school, Zhao spoke fluently about the “kizuna” that developed between herself and the Japanese language through her experience participating in Japanese speech contests in her home country and overcoming setbacks during university entrance exams. Her speech, which embodied her growth through adversity, deeply moved the judges and earned her the prestigious President’s Award.
The Japanese Speech Contest for International Students has been organized since 1996 to help international students improve their Japanese skills and encourage student interactions. Students of Campus Mate and MuBO, the university’s official international exchange organization, play a key role in planning and running the contest. Each participants (international student speakers) is usually paired with two students who serve as Japanese language advisors and assist them in refining their speeches until the contest, providing both international and Japanese students an opportunity to interact.