Many Talented Students Took Part in Japanese Speech Event

​The competitors were mostly students of the University of Turku and they had to give a speech inspired by a Japanese kanji character. The topics of the speeches varied from hobbies to science. The winner was Luke Jäppinen who won return tickets to Japan sponsored by Finnair.

The Ambassador of Japan, Mr. Kenji Shinoda, followed the competition and the Embassy was also represented in the panel of judges by a cultural attaché.

The University of Turku offers the most extensive teaching of advanced academic Japanese in Finland. The Japanese language and culture cannot be studied as degree programme but the basics of the language can be studied at the University’s Language Centre.

In addition, Turku School of Economics teaches business Japanese and the Centre for East Asian Studies offers Japanese all the way to Advanced Research Japanese courses.

In Turku, several hundred students have studied Japanese. The goal of the Centre for East Asian Studies is that the students would attain a professional working proficiency in Chinese or Japanese. Soon, they will also include the Korean language.
Jaakko Rajaniemi’s topic was "Impression of a Human".

Behind Reetta Ilo is a compilation of the sachi character which denotes happiness.

Doctoral Candidate in Physics Luke Jäppinen won the competition. His speech was based on the kanji character ”do” which denotes to lead or to conduct. The kanji was a transition to semiconductors and to the world of physics. This year, innovations based on semiconductors won the Nobel Prize in Physics and the winners were Japanese.

Text and photos: Pia-Sofia Yrjölä
Translation: Mari Ratia.