The Japanese embassy and the Japanese Teachers’ Association in Qatar (Jaltaq) recently held the sixth Qatar-Japanese Speech Contest.
The event was held in co-operation with the Japan School of Doha.
Fifteen advanced Japanese language learners in Qatar participated in the contest in three categories.
The event held at the Japan School was attended by more than 130 people, including those studying the Japanese language and interested in Japan.
Salman al-Khaldi, who spoke about his trip to Kyoto, was declared the winner of Free Topic Speech (Category C). He won a round-trip ticket to Tokyo sponsored by Qatar Airways.
In Category B, where participants were assigned a theme, Merwan Lomri won the first prize and received a Sony smartphone sponsored by Fifty One East. As for Recitation in Category A, Mona Salama won the first place. She received a dining voucher courtesy of Junko Sushi.
The second and third place winners received prizes offered by Qatar Insurance Company, Junko Sushi and Jaltaq. All the participants also got gifts from Japanese companies in Doha, such as Marubeni Corporation and Taisei Corporation.
Toshio Odagiri, on behalf of the embassy, expressed heartfelt gratitude to all the sponsors for their yearly support to the Japanese speech contest.
Saad al-Kuwari, winner of last year’s contest, made special remarks for the Japanese language learners and encouraged them to exert more efforts to study the language. Pupils from the Japan School of Doha performed songs in Arabic and Japanese and the contest ended with a reception for all the participants and audience members.