On Saturday 9^th July 2022, we were excited and delighted to hold the finals day of the inaugural Japanese Video Championship for Young Learners UK. This was a brand new event established in 2022 for primary and secondary school and sixth form students studying Japanese in the UK. This was the first contest for young learners run by The Japan Foundation, London where both learners of Japanese as a modern foreign language, and learners of Japanese as a heritage language, were eligible to compete – either individually or as part of a team.

We asked young learners of Japanese in the UK to use their Japanese and make and submit videos on set topics. We wanted applicants to not only use their Japanese, but also make use of other skills such as video editing, presenting/performance and more. Applicants were asked to think of how to convey messages clearly, using the Japanese language and video technology.

Applicants were able to apply in one of the following three categories, according to their age and Japanese ability.

[Primary School Category]

• Japanese level: A1-A2 Level of JF standard for Japanese-language Education /CEFR


• Theme: My/Our School

[Secondary School Category 1]

• Japanese level: A1-A2 Level of JF standard for Japanese-language Education /CEFR


• Theme: My/Our Favourite Place

[Secondary School Category 2]

• Japanese level: B1 Level of JF standard for Japanese-language Education /CEFR


• Theme: “Japan” in the United Kingdom

We were completely blown away by the standard of videos submitted to us. Some were funny and some were serious; sometimes whole classes teamed up to submit a video and sometimes an applicant submitted a video recorded solo. Some applicants even sang! The Japan Foundation, London and the judges of the competition had a lot of fun watching all of the videos we received.

The online Finals Day Event gave finalists, applicants and other participants a chance to watch all submitted videos that were selected as finalists, and to attend a prize ceremony.

First, attendees watched the videos in the Primary Category, before watching the videos in Secondary School Categories 1 and 2.  While we were able to show all videos for the Primary Category and Secondary School Category 2, we received so many videos for Secondary Category 1 (a whopping eighteen videos!) that we could only watch six videos chosen for Finals Day.

Before the Prize Ceremony, there was a special question and answer session with Usami Shingo. Mr Usami is a Sydney-based Japanese actor, voice artist and filmmaker, working extensively in TV, theatre and other multimedia in Australia and Japan. The Q&A was a great opportunity for all of the participants to talk to a real professional actor and filmmaker and ask for his advice on how to make short films. Mr Usami also served as a JaViChamp judge.

Next it was time for the prize ceremony, which started with feedback from two of the judges. The judges decided on special awards for each primary school finalist or finalist team, and although all of the videos submitted were high quality, they also had to select winners and runners-up in the Secondary Categories.

The prize list was as follows:

[Primary School Category]

• Jasmine Wales - Multilingual Award


• The Spain Team, Sutton Bridge Westmere Primary School – Good Role Model Award


• The Norway Team, Gedney Drove End Primary School – Nice Cooperation Award


• Iena Mirto, St Bernadette’s RC Primary School – Botanist Award


• The Canada Team, Sutton Bridge Westmere Primary School – Good Rapport Award


• St. Lucia Class, Holbeach St Marks Church of England Primary School – Well-Being Award


• Timothy Pooley, Taobh na Pairce – Eloquent Presenter Award

[Secondary School Category 1]

• 1st Place – Ana-Victoria Ojo, The Holy Cross School


• 2nd Place – Wolfreton JPN Year 10, Wolfreton School and Sixth Form College


• 3rd Place – Jason Goh, Whitgift School


• Runners Up: Hanli Jin and Maito Shinode, The Perse School; The Sneaky Foxes, Tomlinscote School; Team Sakura, Dartford Grammar School.

[Secondary School Category 2]

• 1st Place – Wolfreton Year 12, Wolfreton School and Sixth Form College


• 2nd Place – KiraKira, St Helen’s School


• Runners Up: Mayuko Hayashi, The Japanese Saturday School in London; WestminsterJA, Westminster School.

All of the winners, runners up and applicants received prizes for their fantastic work.

After the prize ceremony, there was time for a group picture before the event ended and all of the finalists were able to go and enjoy a well-deserved celebration.

This was the first time The Japan Foundation, London has held an event like this, and we were so pleased that all of the participants seemed to enjoy themselves. But don’t take our word for it check out some of the feedback we received:

“[…] I loved how easy it was to see everyone’s excitement for the competition. I really enjoyed watching the videos created by others that study the same subject as me, it gave me a sense of community” – Finalist of Secondary School Category 2

“Very proud of myself. Other finalists’ videos made me gets some ideas. I was very impressed them” – Finalist of the Primary School Category

“I was impressed with the fact that I was able to talk to an actor and learn about the experience of working both in front and behind the camera” – Finalist of Secondary School Category 2

“This contest was very creative and I enjoyed how open the guidelines were! It made for some very different and very interesting videos. I think it was a great way to encourage young people to learn Japanese and will continue to motivate them.” – Friend of finalist(s)

 We hope that this was an invaluable experience for them and that what they learnt from this competition will help them in their futures.

Download an event programme here

View photos of the event here (coming soon!)