The 41st annual Nihongo Benron Taikai Japanese Speech Contest took place at Lucerna Palace in Prague on 22 April 2017. The event was held by the Czech-Japanese Association and several other organizations. INDET SAFETY SYSTEMS a.s. (ISS) was among the companies that supported the contest and funded the purchase of prizes for the winners. S. Moriyoshi (Bureau of Corporate Strategy, Bur. CS) and K. Kissová (CP Dept.) attended as representatives of ISS.
Mr. Toru Furugori from the Embassy of Japan in the Czech Republic officially opened the event. In his speech he linked the art of speaking with the philosophy of martial arts, which are based on combining three components, i.e. spirit or shin, technique gi and body tai. He stressed that one can truly achieve perfection only by harmonizing them. In the end he expressed the importance of the art of speaking in this era where many people prefer communication via Internet and pictograms. It is, therefore, very important to preserve such contests, where attendees demonstrate their verbal skills.
Benron Taikai is opened to the public and any student of Japanese may enter. Most of the contestants are normally from the younger generation, however this year was different and it was interesting and motivating to see that even older age groups study such difficult languages as Japanese. Themes of the speeches varied from study experiences, through hobbies such as sports, and to rising to personal challenges that the participants have had to overcome. Despite the fact that they had only a few minutes to speak, they managed to captivate not only the judges but the viewers as well, who later voted for the most interesting performance for the special viewers’ choice award.
The Czech-Japanese Association prepared entertainment during a break for which a choir performed a song in Japanese and Czech. The whole event was successful and hopefully the attendance will continue to rise each year.
(KK, CP Dept.)
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