Please follow the link for more information
http://www.asianz.org.nz/content/opportunity-internship-oji-holdings-japan-commerce-students
The deadline is on Monday night so you will need to be quick
For this opportunity, stage 3 Japanese is sufficient. Business (or science) + Japanese are the academic criteria.
The 22nd Massey University Japanese Speech Contest took place last Thursday 22 September. The venue this year was Freyberg High School. 29 students in 4 categories delivered diverse and entertaining speeches.
Winners were: Noah Macdermid, Awatapu College (Cat.1), Nhung Le, Awatapu College (Cat.2), Callum Goacher, PN Boys’ High School (Cat.3) and Rosalie Alter-Shaw, Awatapu (Open). The competition was sponsored by the Japan Foundation and the Sasakawa Fellowship Fund for Japanese Language Education, and supported by the Embassy of Japan, ILEP (International Languages Exchanges and Pathways), the School of Humanities, Massey University and Massey University’s volunteer students. Judges were Ms Akiko Harada, National Language Advisor, Japanese, and Dr Penny Shino, Japanese Programme, School of Humanities, Massey University.
Over 300 students and teachers from 17 schools and institutions have participated in the Youkai Taisou dance video project in Christchurch. An article on it has appeared in the Christchurch Press.
You can see the video of the dance in the article on the Stuff website.
Dancing together to the same song is more than just fun; it is something which creates a sense of belonging to a Japanese learning community beyond the walls of classrooms, schools and institutions.
You might want to organise a similar project at your school or in your region. An instruction sheet for making the videos is in the resources section of this site.
An article on the Christchurch Youkai Taisou has appeared in the Japan Foundation’s Newsletter. “Ogino sensei in New Zealand has kindly shared a dance video involving more than 300 students from 15 schools and 2 universities in the Canterbury area dancing to the viral Youkai Taisou. Check it out through the link below and find out how to run a similar project. Minasan mo odotte mi-youkai?”
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 |
A special prize-giving to congratulate the first prize winner of the 2015 JSANZ Japanese Language Speech Contest was held at the University of Canterbury on 10th of Sept.
Dr Penny Shino, President of JSANZ presented Brennan Galpin (University of Canterbury) with the JSANZ trophy. Brennan also received a return air ticket to Japan as his prize.
It was an extremely competitive nationwide contest, with 15 finalists rigorously selected from each of New Zealand’s tertiary institutions. We hope that this triumph will encourage Brennan to continue his Japanese studies with renewed motivation and enthusiasm.
We would like to thank Professor Jonathan Le Cocq (Pro-Vice-Chancellor, College of Arts) and Dr Rachel Payne (Co-Head of the Department of Global, Cultural and Language Studies) at the University of Canterbury for hosting this special ceremony.
Application Deadline: December 11, 2015
The Inter-University Center for Japanese Language Studies (IUC), administered by Stanford University, is pleased to announce a call for applications to the Nippon Foundation Fellows Program at the IUC for the academic year 2016-17.
This program aims to provide the most promising students with the deep linguistic and cultural knowledge needed to become leaders in their fields,and to foster strong collegial bonds and intellectual exchange among them and with their IUC senpai. Fellows will receive a full tuition scholarship plus a modest living stipend to attend the 10-month immersion program in advanced Japanese at the IUC in Yokohama from September 2016 to June 2017.
Over the last half century the IUC has trained more than 2,000 students. Alumni of the school have gone on to teach about Japan at more than 225 universities around the world, and many IUC graduates have distinguished themselves in non-academic careers in which knowledge about Japan has been vital.
Nippon Foundation Fellows participate fully in the program of instruction at the IUC, and in addition they:
Eligibility: Ph.D. students in all fields of Japanese studies currently enrolled in universities from North America, Europe, Australia, or New Zealand; MA,MS, MBA,& JD students with Japan-focused career goals in academia, business, diplomacy/government service, journalism, translation, and law currently enrolled in or recently graduated from a North American university. Applicants must pass the IUC proficiency exam.
Application Deadline: 11 December 2015
Complete details and applications are available online
web: www.stanford.edu/dept/IUC email: iucjapan@stanford.edu
The 42nd Japan New Zealand Business Council Conference was held in Tomakomai, Japan this year. Tomakomai is a city and port in Iburi Subprefecture in Hokkaido, Japan. It is the largest city in the Iburi Subprefecture and the fifth largest city in Hokkaido.
Dallas Nesbitt was able to attend the conference while she was in Japan. She took the opportunity to thank, in person, our generous sponsors, and to meet and talk with key people from both Japan and New Zealand.
The first prize winner in the 2015 JSANZ Tertiary Japanese Language Speech Contest will be awarded a return air ticket to Japan again this year.Two candidates from each tertiary institution in New Zealand can enter.Application opens in May so get prepared for the challenge.