News

On the 28^th of March, the first workshop from the “Japanese From Scratch” series for beginners in Japanese language studies was held by the Japan Foundation London. Titled “Let’s Eat Japanese food”, the workshop concentrated on Japanese cuisine, table manners and the expressions associated with food and restaurants in Japan.

The workshop was led by Chief Japanese Language Advisor, Seiji Fukushima, who introduced various kinds of Japanese food to the participants and demonstrated how to identify them by their correct Japanese name. The participants were then taught some simple greetings in Japanese and the use of these phrases with correct table manners and Japanese etiquette. Chopsticks have an important role in Japanese cuisine and the participants were also shown the correct way to hold and use them. After getting the hang of it, chopsticks skills were put to use by attempting to pick up wasabi peanuts from a bowl.

After working up an appetite for delicious Japanese food, it was time for the participants to go to a Japanese restaurant to not only try the food they were learning about, but also put their newly found Japanese skills to practice in a real restaurant scenario. Every participant got a chance to try different types of Japanese cuisine while mingling with the other participants and staff members.

The workshop had a high attendance and was a great success with all feedback being very positive.  There was a great interest shown in beginner Japanese language from all ages and a demand for more workshops in the near future.

「オープラ大統領？」(“Oprah Winfrey for President?”)

「私立学校　コオロギを給食に」(“Private School Includes Crickets on Lunch Menu”)

「ロンドン五輪高速折り紙デビュー？」(“High-Speed Origami to Debut in London Olympics?”)

These were just a few of the highly creative and amusing April Fools newspaper articles written by the talented participants of Japan Foundation’s first ever Japanese Plus course, a Japanese language and culture course for advanced  learners.

This term’s theme was「新聞を読んで、新聞を作ろう」- “Read and Write Japanese Newspapers.” 39 people in total registered for the course, which ran every Thursday and Friday from February 23^rd to March 23^rd 2012. Run by Japan Foundation’s Japanese Language Advisor Hiroko Tanaka, the course began with an overview of Japanese newspapers and an examination of the style of writing used for newspaper articles. Participants then looked in depth at selected articles and discussed them in Japanese, in order to grasp how to construct an effective article while practicing reading, writing, speaking and listening in Japanese.

Finally, all participants formed groups and wrote their own “April Fools” joke articles, which were collected together and made into the Jプラス新聞 - the “J-Plus Paper.” Every participant received their own copy of the paper, which they enjoyed discussing in Japanese during the final session of Japanese Plus. With such stories as the creation of “Olympic bread,” the invention of “Health Waves” and the inclusion of “Quidditch” into the Olympics, the discussion frequently turned into roars of laughter!

The course received positive feedback from all participants. Michael Doherty, a newcomer to Japan Foundation’s language courses, commented : “I really enjoyed the classes. It was a great opportunity to set aside some time each week and enjoy 日本語 (Japanese)!”

Morgan Giles, also new to the Japan Foundation’s language courses, described the course as “excellent” and said that she “can’t wait for the next one.”

We also can’t wait to see all participants again at our next Japanese Plus course!

If you are Japanese learner of approximately JLPT Level 2/N2 or above and are interested in taking part in the next Japanese Plus, please click here to sign up to our monthly e-bulletin to receive notifications of this and other Japan Foundation events.

We are delighted to announce that Newstead Wood School in Kent has won £1000 worth of prizes for the Gold Award in the Japan Webpage Contest for Schools 2011-2012. All prizes were announced at an award ceremony and presentation afternoon, held on Saturday 17^th March 2012 at the Hotel Russell in London. 

Newstead Wood School captivated the judges with their fantastic website packed full information about their activities, trips and classes, as well as fantastic student work, photos, Japanese language resources and much, much more! The judges mentioned that the site is a bit like a treasure chest as they found more interesting nuggets of information each time they visited! This website also won the Public Vote Award, gaining an impressive 1042 votes out of 4363, almost 24% of the total votes.

The Silver Award was presented to Tenbury C of E Primary School for their website that is packed full of inspirational ideas for Japan related topics and lessons at Primary school level. You can take a peek at the Voki quizzes, play games to practice hiragana and katakana or spend hours watching the fantastic recordings of Kamishibai.

The Bronze award went to Heathfield House School for their brightly coloured, original and fun website. This website is great fun to look through as it is full of photographs of Japan related activities and has some thoughtful comments from the pupils themselves!

Finally, Luton Sixth Form won the Design Award as they impressed the judges with their stylish web design, and large range of content. The judges really liked the language section as well as the student work which showcases what fantastic group of artists they are!

The award ceremony was an excellent chance for pupils from each of these winning schools to display their webpages and tell the audience about their fantastic Japan–related projects. The ladies from Newstead High were delighted to win the top prize and Tenbury Primary school pupils wowed the audience by performing their Algorithm March. One parent, Hanna White mentioned that ‘The children’s presentations were wonderful. A great way to cement relations between our two countries!’ Another attendee, Cathy Darling, mentioned it was good to have ‘the opportunity to finally meet the creators of the competing websites we’d spent too many hours perusing.’ The final highlight for many of the children was the delicious range of sushi provided at the reception, which disappeared remarkably quickly!

You can see more information and links to all of the wonderful entries on the contest website here. Hopefully other schools will be inspired to start a similar webpages, and will join the Japan Webpage Contest for Schools in the future!

On the 4^th of February 2012, a workshop using “Marugoto: Japanese Language and culture, a teaching resource based on the JF standard for Japanese-language education”, entitled Can-do and classroom activities was held. The event was attended by not only members of BATJ but also secondary school teachers (total attendance was 41 people), displaying a widespread interest in the text book.

“Marugoto” was developed under the principle of Japanese for mutual understanding and a trial version was published in May 2011. It therefore features a wide range of techniques, including Can-do target and level settings and portfolio assessment, designed to promote competence in accomplishing tasks (what a person can do by using Japanese) and competence in intercultural understanding (understanding and respecting other cultures by expanding one’s horizon through encounters with various cultures).

The JF standard for Japanese-language education was publicised in 2010 and the general idea of accomplishing tasks and intercultural understanding could be grasped from various training events. However the concern was how to use and tie in these abilities with everyday activities within the classroom. Using “Marugoto”, the training event this time round, examined the relationship between A-1 level Can-do and classroom activities.

There were subjects mentioned by the event participants in regards to the composition of the textbook, colourful pictures, the objective of each chapter in Can-do and also the amount of explanation of grammar within the activity book. However, secondary school teachers in charge of GCSE, ASSET and evening class teachers expressed interest in the possibility of purchasing the text book in the future and also thought that it has the ability to be widely used throughout the UK.

When “Marugoto” is published and becomes generally used, we would like to run training events tying together the principles of JF standard and practical classroom activities. 

On 25th February, the finals of the Seventh Japanese Speech Contest for University Students were held in the Brunei Gallery of the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), showcasing ten individual speeches along with four group presentations by UK university students.

The day began with the Category 2 finalists, all of whom are studying Japanese as an elective or optional course. The speeches were all of a very high standard and it was very difficult for the judges to decide the winner. However, the first prize eventually went to Yee Man Wong, a first year student from the University of Kent, for her extremely memorable speech on “The secret of the AKB48 Fever in Japan and overseas.” In second place was Yilin Wang, a 3^rd year at the University of Hull, who spoke on the complex subject of “Problems faced by foreign tourists using Japanese communication technology.”

Category 2 was followed by speeches by  the Category 1 finalists, who are studying Japanese as their main degree subject. All five finalists demonstrated not only exceptional Japanese ability, but also a great degree of insight and knowledge of their chosen subjects. After much deliberation, first prize was awarded to George Walker, a 4^th year student at the University of Leeds, for his enlightening speech on “Job-hunting in Japan – Effects on studies and student life.”  The second prize was awarded to Haider Muttaqi, in his 4^th year at SOAS, for his passionate and informative speech entitled “Why should the Japanese government promote adoption?”

This year’s Group Category gave beginner-level students the chance to give presentations on a topic of their choice. The four outstanding groups that made it through to Saturday’s finals were chosen from an initial 22 applications, and represented SOAS, Imperial College London, King’s College London and the University of Warwick. They gave talks on “English Culture,” “Chinese New Year,” “English Literature” and “Coventry Cathedral.” These groups were not placed individually, but instead received special prizes based on their chosen topics.

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: Baker & McKenzie LLP, Central Japan Railway Company, Eikoku News Digest, Gendai Travel Limited, The Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation, Japan Airlines, Japan Centre, JP-Books (JPT Europe Ltd.), Mitsubishi Electric Europe, Ricoh UK Ltd, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), and Toshiba of Europe Ltd.

We would like to encourage as many undergraduate students of Japanese language as possible to apply for next year’s contest, which will be held at Regent’s College London.

If you are a secondary school teacher or student, you may be interested in the 2012 Nihongo Cup Japanese Speech Contest for Secondary Schools.

Click on the attachment below for the full results.

On February 10^th 2012, 23 people attended our Training Day for volunteers of our Japanese Taster for Schools (JTS) Programme, in which native and fluent Japanese speakers conduct free Japanese taster sessions in UK schools.

As well as providing new members with basic information about the programme, this month’s JTS Training Day featured reports from two volunteers who had visited schools – one delivered in Japanese by a native Japanese speaker, and the other by a non-native Japanese speaker in English.  This was followed by workshops by Hiroko Tanaka (Japanese Language Advisor and co-ordinator of JTS at the Japan Foundation), demonstrating enjoyable ways of introducing Japanese language and culture at taster sessions through songs, games and story-telling.  Several of these ideas and resources came from Japan Foundation’s own resources, including our JFL Japanese Scheme of Work for Key Stage 2, Nihongo e-na and Ready Steady NihonGO.

Noriko Inman, a new member, commented:

「パワーポイント、動画、音楽、体操などを交えて、教材を紹介して下さって、驚くとともに特に楽しく勉強になりました。」

(“Combining the introduction of teaching resources with PowerPoint presentations, animation, songs and dance enabled me to learn new techniques in fun and surprising ways.”)

Another new volunteer, Emma Gallagher, said:

“It was useful to hear about the experiences of other volunteers. I picked up lots of hits and tips. It was good to have the opportunity to chat to other volunteers over lunch... Enjoyable and useful afternoon.”

We would like to thank all volunteers for coming to the Training Day, and hope they will have the chance to hold a Japanese Taster Session at a school soon!

If you speak native level or fluent Japanese and are interested in becoming a JTS volunteer, please click here for more information.

If you are a school teacher and are interested in holding a Japanese language taster at your school, please click here to find out more.

On the 15th of February 2012, 22 participants attended the Talking Contemporary Japan Special: Japanese discussion with Director Katsumi Sakaguchi.

Firstly, the participants were given the opportunity to view an exclusive screening of “かりんの家” (Karin no ie) in Japanese. This is one of Katsumi Sakaguchi’s most powerful documentaries, which addresses the topic of children, who for a variety of circumstances, cannot live with their parents. After viewing the film, the participants were then encouraged to discuss the content with not only themselves but with Mr Sakaguchi himself in Japanese. Sitting amongst the participants, Mr Sakaguchi answered questions from everyone and discussed the making of a documentary which explored such a serious social problem in contemporary Japan. 

The event was very well received by all participants, who enjoyed the opportunity to practice advanced Japanese skills while exploring the field of documentary-making within Japanese society. Emma Gallagher, who attended the event, commented:

「とても楽しかったです。感動しました。ありがとうございました。」

(“It was really enjoyable and I was truly moved. Thank you very much.”)

Another participant, Rebecca Clegg, commented:

“It was a great opportunity to experience different points of Japanese culture.”

We would like to thank all the participants that came along to the Talking Contemporary Japan Special event and hope to see you again throughout the year.

NEW! Click here to view video clips from the event on YouTube.

A big thank you to everyone who visited the Japan Foundation’s stand at the Language Show Live on the 21^st, 22^nd and 23^rd October.

Held once a year, the Language Show is the UK's biggest event for language learners, teachers, linguists and anyone with a passion for languages.  This year’s show, held in Olympia, was attended by over 9,000 people across the three days. 

The Japan Foundation’s stand gave visitors a chance to experience Japanese language and culture, including writing their name in Japanese, trying Japanese alphabet jigsaw, and making an origami samurai hat!

Our Japanese Language Taster sessions, held by Japan Foundation’s Japanese Language Advisor, Hiroko Tanaka, was attended by a huge crowd of enthusiastic language learners of all ages,

We would also like to thank all our Japanese Taster for Schools volunteers who generously donated their time and Japanese language expertise to help at the stand.  Domo arigato gozaimashita!

Additionally, we held a Japan Quiz, which over 500 people entered.  Out of those who answered the quiz correctly, we picked five at random to send our Japan Foundation Goody Bag.

The answers to the quiz were as follows:

1.  Which of these activities is the most widely practiced in Japan?

a) Tea ceremony

b) Golf

c) Karaoke

Answer = c) Karaoke is considered to be the most widely practiced cultural activity in Japan.

2.  Which of these is most commonly recognised as the national flower of Japan?

a) Lotus

b) Wisteria

c) Cherry blossom

Answer = c) The cherry blossom is commonly recognised as Japan’s national flower (as well as the chrysanthemum).

3.  Japan’s geography consists mainly of...

a) Cities

b) Mountains

c) Rice fields

Answer = b) Mountains cover over 70% of Japan’s terrain!

4.   The character 日 means “sun” and the character 青 means “blue.” What do you think their combination, 晴, means?

a) Clear skies

b) Moon

c) Sadness

Answer = a) The character 晴, which is pronounced “hare” or “sei,” means clear skies or sunny weather.

5.   Which of these cartoon characters does NOT originate from Japan?

a) Hello Kitty

b) The Powerpuff Girls

c) Super Mario

Answer b) = While Hello Kitty were created by Japanese companies (Sanrio and Nintendo, respectively), the Powerpuff Girls were made by American animators. Their style, however, imitates popular animation styles from Japan.

Congratulations to Selvi Saroinsong, Jonathan Collins, Rebecca Patterson, Franchon Wright and Sara Lounes who were selected at random from all those who got all the answers right to win our goody bag!

Japan Foundation will also be attending the Language Show in 2012, on October 19^th , 20^th and 21^st  at the Olympia, London.  We hope to see you there!

On Saturday October 29^th 2011, the Japan Foundation and BATJ (the British Association for Teaching Japanese as a Second Language) co-hosted a seminar about Language Education policies at the Japan Foundation, London. Over 40 people attended including teachers of Japanese from universities and schools around the UK.

The seminar started with an overview of the National Curriculum and its history by Seiji Fukushima, the Chief Japanese Language Advisor at the Japan Foundation London. Next was a section by Lydia Morey, Chair of the ALL Japanese Language Committee and teacher of Japanese, who explained the variety of styles of Japanese language education within secondary schools. This was followed by the main speaker, Stephen Fawkes who is a Trustee and Membership Officer at the Association for Language Learning, with a long history in language education. Stephen described the history of language education strategies and also mentioned some of the developments we can expect in future education policies.

The seminar received positive feedback from all attendees, many of whom were glad to learn more about the way languages are taught at primary and secondary schools in the UK. 

Lingu@net is a multilingual website for teachers and learners of languages – in fact for anyone interested in languages.

It has been developed by an international consortium of experts – major organisations working in languages, technology and information science. Lingu@net World Wide has received support from the European Commission and has been recognised as a leader in its field, winning two prestigious prizes for its work, in 2007 it was awarded the MERLOT prize for being ‘exemplary online learning material for all disciplines’ (www.merlot.org) and in 2008 Lingu@net was awarded the European Commission’s Gold prize in the ‘European Lifelong Learning Awards for quality in mobility’.

Lingu@net World Wide provides teachers, trainers and curriculum writers with access to quality assured online resources for teaching and learning languages, from beginner to advanced levels.  It currently includes over 5,000 resources in over 40 languages, including over 150 Japanese language resources. 

For learners it offers guidance and information on learning a new language, as well as access to learning materials and authentic online texts.

Both learners and teachers can use Lingu@net World Wide to communicate with others.
Since May of this year Lingu@net World Wide can be accessed by native speakers of 32 languages, including most European languages, Japanese, Chinese, Hindi and Arabic.
Japanese speakers can now access this rich and world renowned site –

• To find out about learning other languages (e.g. English, French, German, Spanish, Arabic, whatever you choose)


• To find online resources to help teach or learn that language


• To communicate with other Japanese speakers interested in languages

Teachers of Japanese to foreigners can use the site to promote the Japanese language and to help learners find new and exciting material for their studies.

So please get online and visit Lingu@net World Wide now. Tell us what you think of the new site here. Suggest new resources for learning Japanese, or new ideas about language learning.

On 14th October 2011, over 50 teachers and local authority advisors attended the Japan Conference for Schools, held at the Embassy of Japan in London. Co-organised by the Embassy of Japan, the Japan Foundation and the Japan Society, the event was a fantastic chance for attendees to network and share practical ideas about projects for introducing Japanese into their schools or to enhance their existing Japan-related activities.

Participants were welcomed to the Embassy by Minister Hiroshi Suzuki, the director of the Japan Information and Culture Centre. This was followed by a poignant talk by Lynne Parmenter from Manchester Metropolitan University’s Institute of Education about the ‘Voices from Fukushima’ project. This project, funded by the Japan Foundation London, aims to develop and pilot a resource pack for teaching about Japan at Key Stage 2. It is a collaboration with teachers and children in Fukushima to present their experiences of the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster, their relocation and recovery, their everyday lives and their dreams for the future. The idea is to go beyond the negative images of disaster to show children a more balanced picture of recovery, resilience and ordinary life in post-disaster regions. 

Regarding the presentation, Bernedette Fellowes-Prynne from Chopwell Primary School said:‘The presentation by Lynne Parmenter was so inspiring and reinforced my feelings that children need to go back to learning about the wider Japanese culture and not focus on the recent events in the north.’

Following this, participants separated into small discussion groups and could choose between ten topics such as ‘Cross Curricular Japanese,’ ‘Practical Teaching Ideas’ or ‘Primary Focus.’ Throughout the day, all attendees had the chance to visit four of these sessions to find out about the topics that were most useful for their schools or their own personal development. 

Alan Greaves from The Wavell School commented that:‘It was great to have discussions in smaller groups. Four workshops with four different leaders with contrasting styles led to very productive sessions and a chance to ask questions in a relaxed, informal setting.’

After a delicious bento lunch box, attendees viewed a video created by Christopher Purvis from the Japan Society on his recent trip to Japan’s Tohoku region, which was devastated by the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake and resulting tsunami six months ago. This was followed by an inspiring talk from Liz Gil about Wearhead Primary School’s award winning partnership with Amanuma School in Japan, which they have visited twice.

All in all, it was a fantastic day. Mary Hunt from St Mary’s RC Primary School observed that it was a ‘wonderful chance to find out what everyone else is doing… I enjoyed all the sessions I attended.’

Thank you to all the participants, speakers and the other organisers for making the conference such a success. We hope to see you again next year!

On June 18th the 2011 Nihongo Cup Japanese Speech Contest for secondary school students was held at the Embassy of Japan in London.

The 18 finalists, who had been selected from 279 applicants from 19 different schools across the UK, all demonstrated great creativity, thoughtfulness and outstanding ability in Japanese in performing their speeches – not to mention extraordinary courage to present their ideas in a foreign language to an audience of 150 people! 

Between each of the three categories of speeches, the audience was entertained by the haunting singing of the Japanese choir Green Chorus, and also had the opportunity to participate in Japanese culture while offering their support for victims of the Tohoku Pacific earthquake and tsunami by writing messages on cranes and tanabata (Star Festival) paper slips.

Due to the extremely high level of Japanese and the wonderful content of the speeches delivered by all finalists, the judges found deciding on the final winners of the 2011 Nihongo Cup harder than ever.  But eventually, Joe Littler (Key Stage 4and 5 Post-GCSE), Winnie Fan (Key Stage 4 and 5 Pre-GCSE) and Rebecca Young (Key Stage 3) were awarded first prize in each of their categories. After the prize giving ceremony, many of the finalists commented on how glad they were to have had this experience, and that they want to enter again next year!

Many congratulations and a big thank you to everyone who came together to make the day such a success. The full results of the contest are as follows:

Key Stage 4 and 5 Post-GCSE Category
Winner: Joe Littler (King Edward VII School) 
Speech title: “Making a Japanese Sword”
2nd Prize: Lauren du Plessis (Aylesbury High School)
Speech title: “The Culture of the Geisha”
3rd Prize: Jisu Lee (St. Helen’s School)
Speech title: “Hiroshima”
Other finalists:
Kashif Akhtar (Greenford High School)
Stuart Burrell (South Wolds Community School)
Tanya Naumenko (Wycliffe College)

Key Stage 4 and 5 Pre-GCSE Category
Winner: Winnie Fan (Wycliffe College)
Speech title: “A Trip to Bath”
2nd Prize: Fabian Fatodu (Whitgift School)
Speech title: “Japanese Music”
3rd Prize: Kristine Gante (Queen Mary’s High School)
Speech title: “My Interest in the World”
Other finalists:
Bethany Allum (Tile Hill Wood School)
Philip Bentley (Dartford Grammar School)
Areekul Bunprakob (Havering College)

Key Stage 3 Category (Speech theme: “My Favourite Place”)
Winner: Rebecca Young (South Wolds Community School
2nd Prize: Carine Valarche (Wren Academy)
3rd Prize: Angel Catacutan (Greenford High School)
Other finalists: 
Harjivan Chhokar (Campion School)
Yu Yeen Fung (St. Helen’s School)
Wesley Gaunt (Covenant Christian School)

The event was organised by the Japanese Language Committee of the Association for Language Learning, in association with the Japan Foundation London and Embassy of Japan in the UK. We are very grateful to Toshiba of Europe Ltd, JSA (the Japanese Speech Awards), Ricoh UK Ltd, JP-Books (JPT Europe Ltd) and the Japan Centre for sponsoring the event and donating prizes, and also to Sumisho Computer Systems for their generous sponsorship and to Soho Japan for contributing to the evening reception. 

On May 5^th 2011, Japan Foundation held out annual one-day Head Start course for head teachers, curriculum planners and MFL leaders interested in introducing Japanese language at their school.

The day began with an overview of the current picture of Japanese language education in the UK, in addition to the support available for Japanese teaching from the Japan Foundation. This was followed by an introduction to Japanese language and culture by the Japan Foundation language advisors, who introduced basic Japanese language and information about Japan with chanting, quizzes and games! These sessions were not only useful to teachers who had limited experience of Japanese culture, but also those who had been to Japan before; as one participant said, “Despite already being aware of Japanese language and culture, these sessions gave me ideas on communicating them in a classroom setting, and teaching the language.”

After a Japanese bento (lunchbox) lunch, the day progressed with presentations by teachers at schools currently teaching Japanese. Kevin McKellar, Head Teacher at Hendon School, gave an inspirational speech about how Japanese at his school has captured the enthusiasm of pupils across all ranges of ability, emphasising that “without Japanese, Hendon would not be where we are now.” Teresa Phillipson, Head of Modern Foreign Languages at Lutterworth College, gave a highly informative account of how Japanese Asset Languages is taught as an enrichment course at her school, and that pupils are so enthusiastic about Japanese that they will choose to study it even though it means less free periods!

Finally, the day closed with a tour of the Japan Foundation library, which now has 8,500 books and other Japanese language education resources, and a Q&A session. Overall, the day was a great success; some of the feedback received included:

“Really inspirational / motivational day. Lots of great, practical advice which will really help.” (Sally Daniells, Assistant Vice Principal at Skinners Kent Academy)

“Fantastic! A very inspiring day!” (Aeryn Hamilton, Exchange Teacher, Purbrook Junior School)

“An excellent and very useful day.” (Joan Nix, Curriculum Area Manager, Sandhill View School)

We would like to thank all Head Start attendees for coming, and hope we see you again soon!

If you would like more information about getting Japanese started at your school, please email info.language@jpf.org.uk.