我孫子市国際交流協会

Date and Time: Sunday, September 25  1:00pm to 4:30pm
Venue: Grand Hall, Abiko Civic Plaza
Number of Audience: About 80
Chief of Organizing Committee: Ms. Noriko Adachi
Panel of 7 Judges: Mr. Akira Aoki, Abiko City Deputy Mayor;  Mr. Jun Nakamura, Educational Administrative Manager, Board of Education; Mr. Ichiro Shiina, President of Chuo Gakuin University; Mr. William Kischuck, Associate Professor of Kawamura Gakuen Woman's University; Ms. Mary Treadway Adachi, AIRA English instructress ; Mr. John Bauman, English instructor of Chuo Gakuin University; Mr. Mitsuru Hayasaka, President of AIRA
MC: Mr. Koji Ishihara (AIRA member) and Ms. Xing Yan (graduate student)

This contest also marked the 20th anniversary of the foundation of AIRA.
18 speakers in total, 9 in English and 9 in Japanese part, ranging from junior high-school students to a 79-year-old man, made their speeches. There were 7 men (2 foreigners) and 11 women (2 foreigners). 

  The 1 hour 50 minute contest started with the opening speech by Mr. Hayasaka, President of AIRA. He said, “This year AIRA celebrates the 20th anniversary. I hope that all the speakers would relax and frankly deliver their views on international relations.” The first part was speeches in English, followed by the second part in Japanese.

  While waiting for the results of judging, the audience was shown a video produced by Yamashina Institute for Ornithology. The video was about the activities of men eagerly trying to save Short-tailed Albatross in danger of extinction. Young albatrosses have to leave their nesting grounds Torishima Island someday. First they try very hard, but they can’t fly well. It was a heart-moving story of the birds that finally took off after repetition of trials and failures. It is reported that the birds come back home in several years without fail.

The following is the results of the fair and strict evaluation by the panel of judges;

1. AIRA President Award: Ms. Midori Masaki
2. Abiko Mayor Award: Ms. Mina Shimizu
3. Board of Education Award: Mr. Hikaru Isooka
4. Chuo Gakuin University President Award: Ms. Saho Ito
5. Kawamura Gakuen Woman’s University Award: Ms. Narumi Hara
6. Audience Judge Award
English part: Mr. Taishi Aburakawa
    Japanese part: Ms. Liu Jiao,  Ms. Ajiro Malou Lourdes
7. Award for Participation: 10 other speakers

Ms. Masaki, who got AIRA President Award, is a second-year junior high school student. She made a speech in Japanese under the title “What is happiness?”.  “When I was in my first year of junior high school, from August 2010 to April 2011, I studied in the Philippines, my mother’s home country. I was surprised at the different living environments and the big gap between the rich and the poor. I saw rich families who employ maids to do all the housework and do nothing themselves, while I saw barefoot boys begging for money.
Last year I visited Hiroshima as one of the delegates from Abiko City Peace Project and listened to an atomic bomb victim. He saw a lot of his neighbors killed by the atomic bombing. He said, ‘For me, happiness is being able to breathe.’  When I heard that, I realized I was really happy to have my family and friends and to be able to breathe.”

Ms. Mina Shimizu, who got Abiko Mayor Award, is in her third year of junior
high school. She made a speech in English.  The title was “Arigato (Thank
you.)”  “In May this year we visited Yakushiji Temple in Nara on our school
excursion. During the trip we broke rules and were scolded by our teacher.
We said we were sorry, and I thought the case was closed by our not a
heart-felt apology. In the temple, a priest preached to us about the meaning
of ‘Arigato (Thank you)’. He said, ‘No one scolds you because they like to do
that. Your parents, teachers and friends chide you because they love you.
They do so for the sake of you.” At that moment I realized the love of our
teacher who scolded us and I was able to say from the heart, ‘I’m really
sorry.’ , and ‘Thank you.’  I’d like to cherish this pure feeling and send
‘Arigato’ to the world.

The judges awarded each winner with a certificate, giving a succinct and warm comment. The Educational Administrative Manager said in his general comment, “You have impressed us by your serious deliveries, we also made deliberate judges. We had participants not only from inside but also from outside of the city, and the level of the content of the speeches was very high.”
The contest ended with the closing speech by Ms. Adachi, chief of the organizing committee. After the awarding ceremony all the speakers, judges and MCs got photographed on the stage.
Finally, all the people including staff members and audience had a pleasant talk with each other in a tea party.
*For photo showing, click Main Menu, Photo Album on the
left side of AIRA front page. (Vol. 146)