Food in Studio Ghibli films, Francophone bandes dessinée, and plastic surgery – these are just some of the fascinating topics covered by students studying Japanese at universities across the United Kingdom at the Finals Day of the 17th Japanese Speech Contest for University Students. This online event was held on 5th March 2022, with twenty-seven students from eleven universities taking part and wowing the audience with their informative and interesting speeches – delivered entirely in Japanese!

Before the speeches began, we were honoured to receive words of greeting and encouragement to all the finalists from Mr HAYASHI Hajime, Ambassador of Japan to the United Kingdom. It was a wonderful way to start the event.

The five finalists in the Individual Presentation Category (post-beginner category) kicked off the day’s speeches. For these presentations, students used PowerPoint slides while speaking about their chosen topics. Minju Kim, a 2nd year student at the University of Edinburgh, won first prize in this category for her presentation about traditional Korean mask dance drama: “’Another Face Behind the Mask’: Mask Dance Drama in Korea”. Second place in this category was awarded to Apolline Debroux, a 2nd year student at the University of East Anglia, for her presentation on French and Belgian comics, entitled: “’Bande déssinée’ of the French speaking world”. The three fantastic runners-up were Jamie Shepherd (University of Cambridge), Hang Lok Edison Au-Yeung (University of Warwick), and Travis Moy (University of Bath).

Next were the five finalists of the Speech Category. This category is for students studying Japanese as either a degree or non-degree course. Finalists were required to speak in-depth on a topic of their choice using no visual aids. Afterwards, they were asked questions in Japanese by an interlocutor. First prize in this category was awarded to Julia Mary Follan, a 4th year student reading Japanese at the University of Oxford, for her speech on bushido’s applications in modern society – “The role that bushido can play in society today”. Second prize went to a 3rd year student at the University of Sheffield, Vesela Georgieva, for her speech debating the implications of plastic surgery, entitled, “Plastic surgery: to what extent can its role as a means to gain confidence be justified”. There were also three brilliant runners-up in this category: Krishna Paul Choudhury (University of Leeds), Zhixuan Chen (Newcastle University), and Zakariah Ajaz (University of Manchester).

Last but by no means least, the five groups performing in the Group Presentation Category gave their lively presentations on a variety of topics. The groups consisted of finalists who are studying Japanese at a beginner level and were not placed individually but all received participation prizes. The presentations this year were: “Ghibli Food” (Team Ghibli Foodies, University of Oxford),”"Superstitions” (Team Superstitious Foreigners, University of Sheffield), “The Great Fire of London” (Team Firefourters, University of Warwick), “Chinese Table Manner” (Team 3 Chinese, Imperial College London), and “Exploring the Museums of Cambridge” (Team The worlds on our doorstep, University of Cambridge).

Students were awarded their prizes during the online award ceremony. This year once again the contest’s ceremony and reception were online, but even though we did not meet in person, we could feel the pride and happiness of the students and the supporters through the computer. Every single participant in the contest was awarded brilliant prizes that were kindly provided by our generous sponsors.

 We are so pleased to be able to hold this event, which we believe shows the power of language to connect students across the United Kingdom. Well done to all the participating finalists and their universities!

• Download the event programme


• Download Speech Category Summaries


• Download Individual and Group Presentation Category Abstracts


• Check out the photos from Finals Day on our Facebook page (coming soon!)


• Check out videos of all the speeches and presentations 


• Information on the BATJ website in Japanese and English

We would like to thank all participants, their teachers and supporters, the judges, audience members and BATJ for making the contest such a success. In addition, special thanks must go to the generous sponsors who supported this event:

The British Association of Japanese Studies, Central Japan Railway Company, Clearspring, Connect Job, Eikoku News Digest Limited, Globe-Trotter, The Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation, Japan Airlines, Japan Centre, JP Books, Nikkei Europe Limited, Ningyocho IMAHAN, Regions, Ricoh UK Limited, SUQQU Cosmetics / athletia, WASO and ZOOM Japan.