26th Ohio Japanese Speech Contest
March 22, 2025 | Cleveland, Ohio
“I have been thinking what I could do to help revitalize my father’s home town in Taiwan, and noticed that Japan was very advanced in that area,” commented Chih-Cheng Lin about his award-winning speech, “Japan’s regional revitalization policy” (日本の地方創生政策). A senior at Case Western Reserve University, Lin was the winner of Consulate General Award (the top award) at the 26th JASCO Japanese Speech Contest, held on March 22, 2025. For people who are thinking about participating in the speech contest, Lin gives this advice: “Remember, you are not the only one who is nervous. Every contestant is.”
The JASCO award (second place) went to William Davis, Junior at Dublin Scioto High School. He prepared for the contest by asking his Japanese friends to ask questions about his speech, “A new world” (新たなワールド), in which he talked about learning Japanese in a virtual Japanese world.
Jacob Buckley won the special award for his poetic expressions in his speech, “The friends I haven’t met yet” (出会っていない友達).
Before the contest began, some of the participants had the opportunity to see some elaborate works of Japanese art closely, thanks to the workshop provided by the Cleveland Museum of Art.
Participants also enjoyed Japanese trivia game, organized by Kizuna, CWRU’s Japanese student organization. As the contest began, CWRU alumnus Dr. Hiroyuki Fujita gave an inspiring video message to contestants and all students of Japanese. After the announcement of winners, Consul-General Hajime Kishimori from Consulate General of Japan in Detroit commended all finalists.
Congratulations to the award winners, and all twelve finalists! Our gratitude goes to Case Western Reserve University for hosting this year’s speech contest. We are grateful for the generous sponsorship and contributions that made this event possible. We are especially thankful to the Consulate General of Japan in Detroit and the Japan Foundation Los Angeles for their support. We also extend our sincere appreciation to Hidaka USA, Inc., The Ohio State University Institute for Japanese Studies, David Cook, Noriko Mills, and Anthony Weis for their valuable contributions.
We look forward to next year’s Speech Contest, held at The Oho State University.
See more photos of the event here:
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