Southern Taiwan University of Science and Technology held the 10th “National High School Japanese Picture Storytelling (Kamishibai) Competition at the International Conference Hall of STUST. The themes of the Japanese story for the competition was authorized by Japanese Fuji Bakery Group and Japanese Communications Express. The theme of the story is based on the folk stories circulated in Kumamoto, Saga, Nagasaki, Oita, and Fukuoka. This year, a total of 86 teachers and students from 14 high schools in Taipei, Taoyuan, Nantou, and other regions came to participate in the competition. Honorable judges included the Japanese Specialist Kazuo Sachiko of Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association, Kamishibai expert Iwahashi Norisue, President Izuru Tokumaru of Tai-Young Chemical Co., Ltd. Director Jen-Hui Guo of Japan-Taiwan Friendship Exchange Association in Tainan City also came to cheer for the participants.
【Specialist Kazuo Sachiko from Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association (first right), one of the honorable judges, presented first prize to the team of Fengshan Commercial High School for their story-telling “Debt before Birth.】
In order to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the event, Southern Taiwan University of Science and Technology specially invited Mr. Iwabashi, the winner of the 2018 "National Japanese Picture Storytelling Award" to come to be the judge and demonstrate the traditional Japanese Picture Storytelling. Mr. Iwabashi said that he was much honored to see the Japanese-born paper-based culture to have come oversea to Taiwan and helped Japanese language education. However, he deeply felt that with the advancement of high technology that has made this generation live in a more convenient way, we must pay more attention to the communication and culture exchanges between peoples. However, it was a pity that children and young people in Japan are always staring at mobile phones and handheld games. The development of the Internet has brought the world closer and closer; yet, this has alienated people from each other. Mr. Iwabashi mentioned that he often uses mobile phones and likes the Internet very much, but he wants to learn more from the tradition to create a new and bright future. Therefore, he is willing to come to Taiwan to see the young people’s performances in the year-round Japanese story-telling competition. After the competition, Mr. Iwabashi offered his lively performance of the famous story "Golden Bat" and his original story "Unarresting Kid," making the venue full of laughter and warm interaction.
【Japanese expert Iwahashi Norisue was delivering a speech.】
President Deng-Maw Lu of Southern Taiwan University of Science and Technology said that the story telling competition was subsidized by the Ministry of Education. Each team in the competition consisted of four to six people, and every one played his or her role. They learned from their practice, mutual observation, and team spirit, which strengthened the effectiveness of their Japanese learning, in order to achieve the purpose of cultivating excellent Japanese talents, in line with the goal of higher education to "implement teaching innovation." In addition, in recent years, the Department of Applied Japanese has actively selected students to practice in Japan overseas. Almost every student has at least one opportunity to go to Japan for an internship before graduation. Students can go to a Japanese company for an internship before graduation, and the company can provide students with a good opportunity to learn Japanese language, Japanese culture, and Japanese industry status. All these have given great help to their Japanese communication skills.
【Mr. Iwahashi Norisue was demonstrating the art of traditional Japanese story telling.】
【President Deng-Maw Lu of South Taiwan University of Science and Technology, was delivering a speech.】
【The 10th Senior High School Japanese Picture Storytelling (Kamishibai) Competition invited President Deng-Maw Lu (middle) of Southern Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Japanese Specialist Kazuo Sachiko of Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association, Director Jen-Hui Guo of Japan-Taiwan Friendship Exchange Association in Tainan City, and the teachers and attending guests at the school.】