Multicultural Youth Share Views in the 6th Heritage Japanese Speech Contest
Twenty contestants from Illinois, Minnesota and Wisconsin competed in the 6th annual Heritage Japanese Language Speech Contest (Photos: courtesy of the Consulate General of Japan in Chicago)
The sixth annual Heritage Japanese Language Speech Contest was held on January 30 in the online format for the second year in a row, due to concerns about the coronavirus pandemic. Twenty participants from the Midwest, between Grades 3 and 12, competed with their language skills.
This speech contest was founded in 2017 to encourage children of Japanese heritage to polish their Japanese language skills. It is co-organized by the Japanese Consulate General in Chicago, Japan chamber of Commerce and Industry of Chicago, Japan America Society of Chicago, and Chicago Sister Cities International Osaka Committee.
The competition consists of two categories: the first for elementary and junior high school students; and the second for high school and college students.
After each presentation, a judge asks the contestant a few questions in Japanese. The answers are counted toward the total points for the contestant.
As he welcomed participants from Illinois, Minnesota and Wisconsin, Consul General Hiroshi Tajima said he hoped the contest would grow even more to provide the opportunity for the young people with Japanese heritage to brush up their Japanese language skills.
“Heritage learners share the privilege of learning two languages and cultures,” Tajima said.
He said he hoped the contestants will continue learning Japanese, regardless of today’s outcome, to become a true bridge between Japan and the United States.
He also praised the parents and teachers for their support to the participating students, while acknowledging the sponsors, co-organizers and judges for their assistance.
Each participant attended the contest online from their own home.
Chicago-based Japanese drum ensemble Tsukasa Taiko presented its performance video after the speeches, while the judges selected the winners of each award.
The results were announced by Tsutomu Shibata, Consul & Director of the Japan Information Center at the Consulate General of Japan in Chicago.
Prize-winning Speeches
Meena Kasai from Metea Valley High School in Aurora, IL won the Grand Prize with her speech titled “The Magic Portal.”
Meena Kasai (bottom R) wins the Grand Prize. Consul General Hiroshi Tajima (top L) and Atsushi Nakao (top R), U.S.-Japan Relations Committee Chair of Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Chicago, congratulate Kasai
Kasai has been devoted to ice skating since an early age. The moment she got on the ice rink felt to her like stepping through an invisible doorway into an entirely different, magical world. It was a world where she could hear music with her entire body and move without constraint.
A year ago, she injured her leg badly while practicing a jump. As a result, she had to stop skating. The door to the magical world was closed. It was devastating.
She couldn’t give up her world of magic. She practiced using her uninjured leg, and exacerbated the injury as a result. It was the harsh reality she had to face – hard work could not resolve everything.
As time went by, though, she began seeing things other than skating.
New doors began opening one by one to her, presenting her with new, different worlds. She learned to enjoy talking with her family more. She came to realize her Japanese heritage inside herself and developed a desire to know more about Japan’s culture and history. She also discovered that she had been afraid of saying goodbye to skating at some point in the future.
Now she knows that skating is not the only magic doorway to another world. Injury helped her to come to that realization.
“I’ve found a lot of magic portals thanks to my injury,” she concluded her speech. “I will continue opening many more from now on.”
Rentaro Ridder form Minnesota Japanese School in Edina, MN was the winner of the First Prize in the first category. His speech was titled “From My Hands to High into the Sky.”
Rentaro Ridder
A year ago, he was in love with origami, Japanese paper folding. Today, he is fascinated with paper airplanes. He now spends a lot of time making them.
The wide variety in the types of paper airplane is what fascinates Ridder. Some glide weightlessly while others fly straight like a dart. There are even ones that fly back to you like a boomerang.
Paper airplanes fly in entirely different ways depending on their designs and construction. Difference in design or balance makes differences in a plane’s flight speed, distance, and duration.
“I think making paper airplanes is science, made up of programming and calculations,” he said.
His hero is John Collins, the holder of the Guinness World Record for farthest indoor paper airplane flight. He gets excited by Collins’ words: “Every plane you make is an opportunity.”
Ridder has made 200-300 paper airplanes so far, and even developed his own design. He enrolled in a paper airplane design contest last November (he didn’t win any awards, unfortunately).
The holder of the Guinness World Record for the longest time flying a paper aircraft is Takuo Toda of Japan, at 29.2 seconds.
Ridder dreams of breaking that record someday. “And I want to tell people from all over the world how to fold a paper airplane and how fun it is in a YouTube video,” he said.
The First Prize in the second category was awarded to Myu Vizconde from Chicago Futabakai Japanese Saturday School, who presented a speech titled “Along with Eisa.”
Myu Vizconde
A kindergarten teacher taught the five-year-old Vizconde Eisa, a traditional folk dance originated in Okinawa. She has been practicing and performing it for 13 years now.
Being shy, it was hard for her at first to chant along loudly in the dance. Thinking back, she thinks that’s in part because she didn’t have a clear sense of identity. Born and raised in Chicago, she felt she was neither an American nor an Asian.
But learning Eisa and practicing it in the U.S. helped her accept the duality of her identity.
As a member of a Chicago-based Eisa group “Chimu Don-Don Chicago,” she performed in Chicago for thousands of people, alongside Daiichi Hirata, Founder and Chair of the Worldwide Eisa Festival. It was part of the celebration of the World Uchinanchu Day in 2016, an occasion for the Okinawan immigrants and their descendants to carry on their heritage.
She was interviewed for a video to be played in Okinawa. When she was asked why she was practicing Eisa for so many years, she said there was no single answer.
“I just know that massive energy is created when every single performer’s drum sends huge waves of sounds in union,” she described.
Her journey with Eisa began on the tiny stage at her kindergarten 13 years ago, and has grown into grand-scale performances at venues like Wrigley Field and Millennium Park. She now knows that it’s far more fulfilling to share a goal with her teammates than performing solo.
She hopes to grow with Chimu Don-Don and become a leader for her team.
Cole Yanagihara from Chicago Futabakai Japanese Saturday School won the Chicago Shimpo Award in the second category. His speech was called “My ancestors.”
Yanagihara and his family moved to Chicago from Honolulu, Hawaii when he was eight.
In Hawaii, his school taught students about Japanese culture. He and his friends used Japanese on a daily basis. Back then, he had even believed the word “Jankenpon” (Rock Paper Scissors in Japanese) was an English word.
Now in Chicago, a second grader Yanagihara didn’t want his classmates see his Spam rice balls in his lunchbox. He tried hard to shed off Hawaii’s Japanese immigrant’s culture and blend in with his American classmates.
Then, his grandfather in Hawaii passed away in 2019. It renewed his interest in his Japanese ancestors in Hawaii and their history.
Chicago Shimpo Award winners Cole Yanagihara (R) and Eita Tabion
Yanagihara’s great-grandparents were Japanese immigrants to Hawaii, from the small island of Okikamurojima of Yamaguchi Prefecture, southwest Japan. They ran a general store for Japanese laborers in Honolulu and had five daughters and a son. His great-grandfather died young, and his widow raised the six children on her own.
Japanese immigrants like Yanagihara’s ancestors fought and overcame numerous hardships with the ultimate goal of building a better life for their offspring. Their lives and hard work are the foundation of the culture and community rooted soundly in Hawaii today. Current Governor of Hawaii is David Yutaka Ige, a third-generation Japanese American. The official name of the Honolulu airport is “Daniel K. Inouye International Airport,” named after the renowned Japanese-American U.S. Senator from Hawaii. Yanagihara’s Japanese ancestors were part of a great legacy, which left clear footprints on U.S. history. He felt ashamed of himself for trying to hide his heritage.
He now hopes to know more about his great-grandparents and carry on their legacy to the generation that will come after him. “I want to learn Japanese-American culture and history and keep pride in my identity,” he concluded.
Yanagihara will participate in a school program where students conduct research on their own ancestors and family history.
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The 6th Annual Heritage Japanese Speech Contest Results
Grand Prize: Meena Kasai (Metea Valley High School), 2nd category
1st Prize:
1st Category: Rentaro Ridder (Minnesota Japanese School)
2nd Category: Myu Vizconde (Chicago Futabakai Japanese Saturday School)
Second Prize winners Liliana Kleinschnitz (L) and Kanau Takahashi
2nd Prize:
1st Category: Liliana Kleinschnitz (Milwaukee Doyo Kai Japanese Saturday School)
2nd Category: Kanau Takahashi (Chicago Futabakai Japanese Saturday School)
Third Prize winners Liam Hoel (L) and Riko Kashino
3rd Prize:
1st Category: Liam Hoel (Milwaukee Doyo Kai Japanese Saturday School)
2nd Category: Riko Kashino (Chicago Futabakai Japanese School)
4th Prize:
1st Category: Kantaro Ridder (Minnesota Japanese School)
2nd Category: Anna Shiomi (Chicago Futabakai Japanese School)
JASC Award:
1st Category: Ethan Sanstra (Thomas Dooley Elementary School)
2nd Category: Sae Minobe (Chicago Futabakai Japanese Saturday School)
Chicago Shimpo Award:
1st Category: Eita Tabion (JASC Donguri Kai)
2nd Category: Cole Yanagihara (Chicago Futabakai Japanese School)
JIC Award:
1st Category: Kaito Betters (Dooley Elementary School); Sophia Fehl (Milwaukee Doyo Kai Japanese Saturday School); Mia Shimazu (Thomas Dooley Elementary School); Nari Berthusen (JASC Donguri Kai)
2nd Category: Maya Kakegawa-Fernandez (Minnesota Japanese School); Kate Jeske (Chicago Futabakai Japanese Saturday School); Kai Allen (Chicago Futabakai Japanese Saturday School)