The Japan New Zealand Business Council Conference took place in Auckland from the 19 November.
JSANZ members were unable to attend this year but Dallas Nesbitt (JSANZ co-Vice-President) and Junji Kawai (JSANZ Treasurer) took advantage of the opportunity to network with one of our supporters from the JNZBC, Mr Tada (2nd from left in the photo) and the Managing Director of JTB New Zealand, Mr Nonaka (first on the left in the photo).
This year, two third-year Japanese students (2016), Bella Reid (Victoria University of Wellington) and Hayley Bartosh (Massey University), were awarded the Ambasador’s Prize for Japanese in a joint ceremony and luncheon at the Ambassador’s residence on 1 June. AVC International Stuart Morris, Penny Shino and Toshi Yamaguchi (Massey), and Head of School of Languages and Cultures Associate-Professor Sally Hi and Emerald King (VUW) also attended. The VUW prize was established by the Japanese Ambassador to New Zealand in 1980, His Excellency Mr Takahashi Oyamada, to mark the introduction of the course on Modern Japan. The Massey prize was established in 2013.
Prize giving for the 2017 JSANZ Tertiary Japanese Language Contest at the University of Canterbury huge congratulations to Amanda Deacon (first place) and Jack Hayes (second place) in winning this competitive contest.
We hope that Amanda and Jack continue their Japanese learning journey with renewed motivation and enthusiasm. JSANZ would like to thank the College of Arts of the University of Canterbury, especially Pro-Vice-Chancellor Le Cocq and the Japanese programme for hosting this prize giving.
Many thanks to the Sasakawa Fellowship Fund for Japanese Language Education and the Japan Foundation for their generous financial support and to Air New Zealand for offering a return airfare from New Zealand to Japan for Amanda.
An article on JSANZ in the E-Cube magazine
Masayoshi Ogino talked about the activities of JSANZ, the book Creating New Synergies and current situation of the Japanese language education in New Zealand. Read the article.
An article on Japanese language education in New Zealand
An article by two members of JSANZ, Masayoshi Ogino and Junji Kawai has been published on the website of the Society for Teaching Japanese as a Foreign Language, where the role and activities of JSANZ are featured. Read the article.
Masayoshi Ogino presented Mr Mitsuru Murase (the Consul and Counsellor, Consular Office of Japan, Christchurch) with “Creating New Synergies: Approaches of Tertiary Japanese Programmes in New Zealand”. A review of the book by Dr Michiko Kaneyasu (University of Colorado Boulder) has also been published in the journal, Japanese Language and Literature (April, 2017).
AUT staff members at a gathering at the Consul General’s residence to express appreciation to Air NZ
Air NZ, has generously given a return ticket to Japan as first prize for the JSANZ speech competition. JSANZ would like thank Mr Duncan Small, Air NZ Head of Govt and Industry Affairs, Cath O’Brien, Regulatory Affairs Manager, and Anna Burton Garcia, International Affairs Manager for this wonderfully generous gesture and for their ongoing and warm support of our students efforts to learn Japanese and to become true global citizens. JSANZ would also like to acknowledge Mr Yokoyama, the Consulate General of Japan, Auckland, and his staff , for their excellent networking on our behalf.
JSANZ has now been officially accepted as a member of the Japanese Language Education Global Network (GN).
GN is an alliance that enables the exchange of information about Japanese language education around the world, with the aim of promoting international cooperation, practical activities for learning and teaching Japanese and international development of academic research. Currently, 10 countries and regions (US, Indonesia, Australia, Canada, Korea, Taiwan, China, Japan, Hong Kong, and Europe) are affiliated with this Japanese language education alliance. This is a significant step for JSANZ.
The second National NZ Schools Japanese Trivia Championships was held on Friday 17 June.
The Auckland Regional winner and winner of the National Championships was Northcote College Team 1.
We are delighted to announce the winners of the 2015 JSANZ Tertiary Japanese Language Speech Contest.
First place: Brennan Galpin (University of Canterbury)
Second place: Simon Hsieh (University of Auckland)
Third place: Jay Tweddle (Victoria University of Wellington)
We would like to congratulate all of the participants and in particular, Brennan Galpin, Simon Hsieh and Jay Tweddle. Brennan will receive a return air ticket to Japan, and Simon and Jay will receive Prezzy cards ($100 and $50 respectively), sponsored by the Sasakawa Fellowship Fund for Japanese Language Education and the Japan Foundation.
We hope the participants continue their Japanese learning journey with renewed motivation and enthusiasm, and wish them all the best for the future.
The contest has attracted more participants than the previous year and the overall quality of the speeches was very high. The contestants made commendable speeches with passion and enthusiasm, and we enjoyed the opportunity to judge speeches on interesting themes with originality and strong messages.
Speeches have a power to move and inspire the audience when they are based on what speakers have gained and learnt through own experiences, and when ideas, arguments and messages are elaborated in their own words with concrete examples. These were exactly the elements of the winning speeches in this contest.
The majority of contestants successfully demonstrated Japanese language command with correct grammar, a variety of vocabulary and expressions. Some speakers, however, talked a little too fast, which made it difficult for the audience to comprehend. Some speakers can improve their speeches by paying more attention to the understanding of the audience. There were some participants whose speech missed marks due to a rather monotonous tone, although they gained high marks for its content, development and expressions. There is room for some contestants to improve speech delivery and to develop presentation skills.
We wish the contestants all the best for their Japanese studies. Also, we would like to thank all the teachers and the members of the JSANZ Speech Contest Committee who have been involved in organizing the event.
| Name & Institution | Speech Title |
| Robyn Hwang Massey University | The Benefits of Learning a Second Language |
| Nada El Hosseny Massey University | My Favourite Japanese Crafts |
| Jordan Tuinman University of Otago | The Misunderstandings of Wasei-eigo |
| Aidan Watkin University of Otago | The Future of Humanity |
| Toby Birkbeck-Jones University of Canterbury | A Takumi Story |
| Brennan Galpin University of Canterbury | My Life and Karate |
| Simon Hsieh University of Auckland | My Wabi-Sabi |
| Roxanne Yu University of Auckland | My Secret Gadget “Kaiwagomu” |
| Yeyoung You Auckland University of Technology | Cyber Bullying |
| Wai Chi Ng Auckland University of Technology | Same Sex Marriage in Japan |
| Hao Ming Lee CPIT | Don’t Bully! |
| Jolene Skeen University of Waikato | Expression of Masculinity and Femininity through Langauge |
| Jazmen Apiti University of Waikato | The Similarities between Japanese and Maori |
| Jay Tweddle Victoria University of Wellington | Fujimura Shinichi and the Relaltionship between Archaeological Fraud and Science Fiction |
| Calvina Deng Victoria University of Wellington | 3 Reasons Why You Should Travel |