On Saturday 1 March, the 27th Japanese Public Speaking Contest was held at the Bel Air Hotel in The Hague.

Ambassador Tsuji mentioned in his speech that it was the first time for him to present this Japanese Public Speaking Contest since his arrival in the Netherlands and that he would like to enjoy himself thoroughly. Ambassador Tsuji expressed the hope that the Japanese language skills of the participants would be used to the fullest in this contest.
This time, the theme was ‘the kind of Japanese culture that I would like to introduce to the people of the Netherlands’, and the 23 participants made exciting speeches to their heart’s content with laughter, inspiration and unexpected incidents.

This year’s theme served greatly to learn what the participants wished to convey to the people of their own country and to learn what they were interested in within the culture of Japan, not only based of their everyday study of the Japanese language, but also outside their language study. The participants picked the aspect of the culture they were most interested in.
Japan’s unique way of greeting, Japanese paper, kotatsu (low, heated dining table with quilts on the side), the humbleness of Japanese people, the bond between people practicing karate, Takarazuka revue (all members of dancers are women that act as both woman and man), Japanese bathing habits and culture were thoroughly reviewed and arguments for the participants’ own way of thinking about these themes were delivered.

A special mention should go to a 17-year-old high school student who made a great and composed speech about “Noh”, to the extent that he did not seem like a high school student. It goes without saying that he made a great impression on the panel of judges.

Results
Grand Prize：Ms. Yoesra El Damanhoury
Excellence Prize: Ms. Lisanne Kleinjan
Excellence Prize：Mr. Erwin Griebling
Special Prize：Ms. Caroline De Carvalho Santos
Special Prize：Ms. Natascha Dames
Encouragement Prize：Ms. Sara Da Silva
Encouragement Prize：Ms. Verna de Groes
Special Commitment Prize：Mr. Maarten van der Plas

Speech by Ambassador Tsuji	Grand Prize winner receives her prize
Speech by high schooler Mr. Maarten van der Plas	The prizes
Group photo of all participants and judges

(Sponsored by: The Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry in the Netherlands, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Canon Europe Ltd., Nikon Europe B.V., Restaurant Benkei, Restaurant KOBE, FUJIFILM Manufacturing Europe B.V. and Yakult Europe B.V.)

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