On October 20th, Hiroshima University held the 3rd Japanese Essay Speech Contest in Jakarta, Indonesia where the PERSADA-HU Collaboration Project Center is located.

The contest was held jointly by PERSADA-HU Collaboration Project Center and Komaru Transportation Foundation. The theme of the essay was “Transportation.” 105 essays were submitted after recruiting entries from 10 universities which take a lead in Japanese language education in Indonesia. 36 essays chosen by the universities were then narrowed down to 10 finalists who presented their speeches at the contest held in the lecture hall of Universitas Darma Persada (Darma Persada University). There were about 300 audiences on the day, including Japanese language students and teachers.

The contest started off with welcome speeches by Mr. Shigehiro Komaru, Executive Director of the Komaru Transportation Foundation and President of the Fukuyama Transporting Co. Ltd., Mr. Ismadji Hadisoemarto, Vice President of the Association of Indonesian Alumni from Japan (PERSADA) and Dr. Mochammad Sholichin, First Vice-Rector of Universitas Darma Persada.

10 students then presented their speeches in Japanese fluently. Based on the judges’ strict and fair reviews, Ms. Mumtazia Aulia Fitri from Universitas Sumatera Utara (University of Sumatera Utara) was chosen to be the first prize winner of the contest.

Japanese Ambassador to Indonesia H.E. Masafumi Ishii, the guest of the event offered the words of encouragement saying that such events not only promote friendship between Japan and Indonesia, but also nurture individuals who will build a bridge between the two countries.

At the end of the contest, Executive and Vice President Toshiyuki Sato made closing remarks to conclude the event. The audience listened enthusiastically until the very end.

The 10 participating universities:
Universitas Indonesia, Padjadjaran University, Indonesia University of Education, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Universitas Brawijaya, Universitas Sumatera Utara, Universitas Hasanuddin, Universitas Darma Persada, Universitas Airlangga, Universitas Udayana