February 6, 2012
Japan Bowl: Students win awards Online Exclusive
Nine students, accompanied by Japanese teachers Masako Onakado and Keiko Irino, won awards in the 18th annual Japan Bowl held at the National 4-H Youth Conference Center in Maryland on April 8 and 9.
The National 4-H Youth Conference Center falls under the umbrella of the 4-H non-profit organization, standing for “Head, Heart, Hands, and Health.”
The Level 2 team comprised of Captain Shilpa Nataraj (10), Crystal Chen (10), and Meera Madhavan (9) received first place, while the Level 3 team of Captain Tiffany Jang (10), Victoria Liang (11), and Lorraine Wong (9) received second place. Participating for the last time, the Level 4 team of Captain Kelly Chen (12), Jerry Sun (11), and Katie Liang (11) also won second place in their level.
“I think [the teams] performed very well. [Sweeping] all the championships [last year] was a big burden [this year], so I think they had a great amount of stress because of that,” Onakado said. “It’s not about [winning] first place, but really learning from the experience. So, for me, it was a great success overall.”
Thirty-three schools representing different parts of the nation showcased their knowledge regarding aspects of Japanese culture and language. The Japanese language section included the art of conversation, listening comprehension, onomatopoeia, proverbs, grammar, and kanji and katakana (two Japanese writing systems). Due to the breadth of culture topics, the Japan Bowl follows a cyclical cycle, rotating every three years; this year’s topics ranged from literary and performing arts to anime, manga, and youth culture.
The different level teams collaborated on culture research, and the three members of each level met at least once a week to test each other on their knowledge.
“[The most memorable part of the Japan Bowl experience was] our growth as a team—within our team and all the teams combined. I think we’ve really grown and learned to work together,” Kelly said. “Level 2, we were all really shy and didn’t really know what to do, but now I think we’re all a lot more confident in our abilities and trusting in each other.”
Each team could participate in the open rounds consisting of Round One held on Thursday April 8 and the following day’s Round Two and conversation round. With 50 questions placed on PowerPoint slides, teams received points for accurate answers. During the conversation round, native Japanese speakers evaluated each team member’s proficiency in answering open-ended questions.
A few minutes before Level 2′s championship round also on Friday April 9, the top five teams of each level with the highest accumulated total from the open rounds were announced; for the second year in a row, each of the high school’s teams progressed to the championship round, reserved for the top three teams in each level.
“I don’t think I was as nervous as last year, because I’d [been in the championship round] before. It was exciting being up there,” Tiffany said.
The championship rounds for each level consisted of 15 toss-up questions without consultation within the team, one individual question per student, and ten team questions. The toss-up questions included culture, listening comprehension, and katakana and kanji questions.
In the next section, each student had to make and present a sentence in 60 seconds that included a specified proverb, expression, or onomatopoeia. The sentence was then either passed or failed by a majority vote of five prominent Japanese celebrity figures, including Maki Kaji, “the Godfather of Sudoku,” and Shin Koyamada, renowned for his role in The Last Samurai. The last section of the championship rounds allowed each team thirty seconds per question, most of which were based on culture or kanji.
“I was in the moment—competition mode. I guess, after all the work we’ve done, I wanted to show how far we’ve come,” Crystal said.
After the competition rounds on both Thursday and Friday, students and teachers were invited to attend the cultural movie showings in the auditorium. Both Japanese movies Linda Linda Linda and Ping Pong were shown, but the students did not attend in order to resume preparation for the upcoming round. On Friday evening, after the Awards and Closing Ceremony, the teams and accompanying teachers unwound and interacted with other students from schools across the United States in the Game Room.
“[Onakado Sensee and Irino Sensee’s] air hockey match was probably the funniest thing I’ve ever seen in my entire 16 years of existence. [The Game Room] was a great way to relax after the stress of competition,” Tiffany said.
The students and teachers attended the Sakura Matsuri (Cherry Blossom Festival) in Washington D.C. on Saturday, April 10. The students performed various activities such as observing Judo demonstrations, learning how to pray in a miniature Shinto shrine, or purchasing items unique to Japan in stalls.
After the festival, students returned to California late Saturday evening. They brought back many fun memories of not an academic competition, but also a cultural immersion event.
Onakado said, “By participating in this type of competition, [I wish for the Japan Bowl students] to find a passion for learning Japanese and find a path to continue studying Japanese for as long as they can; that’s my goal, my best goal for them.”
Reporters Shilpa Nataraj and Lorraine Wong participated in the Japan Bowl competition as a part of the Level 2 and Level 3 team, respectively.
