The Fourth Annual Consulate General of Japan in Boston Japanese Language Contest Guidelines 1. The Japanese Language Contest is comprised of two areas: a speech contest an essay contest Participants may enter only one area of the contest. The speech component of the Japanese Language Contest will be held on Saturday, April 12, 2014. The contest is open to students who are currently enrolled in a Japanese language course at a university/college within the six New England states (CT/MA/ME/NH/RI/VT) and : have not lived in Japan three or more years in total since 2003 do not come from homes where Japanese has been spoken regularly have not won the first prize in the same category of this contest in the past The deadline for entries is Friday, March 7 at 5:00pm EST. Essays or speech texts must arrive by that time at the Consulate General of Japan in Boston. While submission by postal mail is fine, email submissions are strongly encouraged.　Send the essay or speech text as an email attachment (Word or pdf preferred) to: infocul@bz.mofa.go.jp Each entry must include a fully completed Entry Form, which indicates the exact character count. The Entry Form should be filled in by the author of the essay or speech, checked and signed by the author’s instructor and sent as a scan along with the essay or speech to the email address above. The Entry Form and Guidelines (this page) can be downloaded from the Consulate’s website. Students should choose the appropriate contest level: Speech Contest: Intermediate Division: students who have completed fewer than 2 years of Japanese language study AND have not studied in Japan Advanced Division: students who have completed two or more years of Japanese language study OR students who have studied in Japan for one semester or more at the college level. Essay Contest: Intermediate Division: students who have completed fewer than 2 years of Japanese language study AND have not studied in Japan Advanced Division: students who have completed two or more years of Japanese language study OR students who have studied in Japan for one semester or more at the college level. (Two years of high school Japanese is counted as one year at the university level.) The essay’s topic must be “クールジャパン“ “日米関係の将来”　 Any topic is acceptable for the speech. Both the essay and speech must be written in Japanese. Both the essay and speech must be typed. The length of the essay or speech should be no more than 800 characters. Essays or speeches which do not conform to the character limit will be disqualified. Students must write their name and the title of their essay or speech on the page, neither of which will count toward the 800 character limit. Entries will not be returned. Finalists of the speech contest will be notified individually by the first week of April. Speech contest finalists will compete at the Japanese Language Contest on April 12, 2014　at the Coolidge Corner Branch of the Brookline Public Library, Brookline, MA. Essay contest winners will also be notified individually by the first week of April. Copyright of all essays and speech will be retained by the Consulate General of Japan in Boston. Only previously unpublished essays and speech will be accepted. If plagiarism is found, the entry will be disqualified.
Through a magnificent gift from the Lunder Foundation (based in Maine), the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston is now offering free admission to all students at Bates (as well as students at other Maine institutions). All current students at Bates can now make an unlimited number of free visits to the Museum by showing a valid Bates ID card. The Museum of Fine Arts, located at 465 Huntington Avenue in Boston, is a great treasure-house of art, history, and culture of the world, with splendid new wings devoted to contemporary art and to its matchless collection of American art. It is open seven days a week from 10:00 am until 4:45 pm (until 9:45 pm on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays). Information on its collections, special exhibits, and programs can be found at www.mfa.org.

The Fourth Annual Consulate General of Japan in Boston
Japanese Language Contest
Guidelines

1. The Japanese Language Contest is comprised of two areas:

a speech contest
an essay contest

Participants may enter only one area of the contest.

The speech component of the Japanese Language Contest will be held on Saturday, April 12, 2014.

The contest is open to students who are currently enrolled in a Japanese language course at a university/college within the six New England states (CT/MA/ME/NH/RI/VT) and :

have not lived in Japan three or more years in total since 2003
do not come from homes where Japanese has been spoken regularly
have not won the first prize in the same category of this contest in the past

The deadline for entries is Friday, March 7 at 5:00pm EST. Essays or speech texts must arrive by that time at the Consulate General of Japan in Boston.

While submission by postal mail is fine, email submissions are strongly encouraged.　Send the essay or speech text as an email attachment (Word or pdf preferred) to: infocul@bz.mofa.go.jp

Each entry must include a fully completed Entry Form, which indicates the exact character count. The Entry Form should be filled in by the author of the essay or speech, checked and signed by the author’s instructor and sent as a scan along with the essay or speech to the email address above.

The Entry Form and Guidelines (this page) can be downloaded from the Consulate’s website.

Students should choose the appropriate contest level:

Speech Contest:

Intermediate Division: students who have completed fewer than 2 years of Japanese language study AND have not studied in Japan

Advanced Division: students who have completed two or more years of Japanese language study OR students who have studied in Japan for one semester or more at the college level.

Essay Contest:
Intermediate Division: students who have completed fewer than 2 years of Japanese language study AND have not studied in Japan

Advanced Division: students who have completed two or more years of Japanese language study OR students who have studied in Japan for one semester or more at the college level.

(Two years of high school Japanese is counted as one year at the university level.)

The essay’s topic must be “クールジャパン“ “日米関係の将来”

Any topic is acceptable for the speech.

Both the essay and speech must be written in Japanese.

Both the essay and speech must be typed.

The length of the essay or speech should be no more than 800 characters. Essays or speeches which do not conform to the character limit will be disqualified. Students must write their name and the title of their essay or speech on the page, neither of which will count toward the 800 character limit.

Entries will not be returned.

Finalists of the speech contest will be notified individually by the first week of April. Speech contest finalists will compete at the Japanese Language Contest on April 12, 2014　at the Coolidge Corner Branch of the Brookline Public Library, Brookline, MA.

Essay contest winners will also be notified individually by the first week of April.

Only previously unpublished essays and speech will be accepted.

If plagiarism is found, the entry will be disqualified.

Through a magnificent gift from the Lunder Foundation (based in Maine), the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston is now offering free admission to all students at Bates (as well as students at other Maine institutions). All current students at Bates can now make an unlimited number of free visits to the Museum by showing a valid Bates ID card.

The Museum of Fine Arts, located at 465 Huntington Avenue in Boston, is a great treasure-house of art, history, and culture of the world, with splendid new wings devoted to contemporary art and to its matchless collection of American art. It is open seven days a week from 10:00 am until 4:45 pm (until 9:45 pm on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays). Information on its collections, special exhibits, and programs can be found at www.mfa.org.