Southern Taiwan University of Science and Technology held the 9th “National High School Japanese Picture Storytelling (Kamishibai) Competition at the International Conference Hall of STUST. For the first time, this year saw only the competition for senior high schools, with a total of 12 teams participating in it. All the participating teams came from Taoyuan, Nantou, and Kaohsiung. 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.

【President Deng-Maw Lu of South Taiwan University of Science and Technology, was delivering a speech】

Many honorable guests came to cheer for the participants, including Director General Kinzo Nakagun of Kaohsiung Office of the Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association, Representative Kitamura Kikuno of Japan Airlines in Kaohsiung, Japanese Specialist Kazuo Sachiko of Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association; Director Jen-Hui Guo of Japan-Taiwan Friendship Exchange Association in Tainan City; Director Nui-Ling Huang of the Department of Applied Japanese, National Kaohsiung Hospitality.

【General Kinzo Nakagun of Kaohsiung Office of the Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association was delivering a speech】

General Kinzo Nakagun of Kaohsiung Office of the Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association came to the competition for the first time. He said that he had attended several speech contests, but he was very much looking forward to participating in the Japanese Picture Storytelling (Kamishibai) competition for the first time. In the speech, he also stated that the symbol of the Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association was the petals of "cherry blossom and plum blossom" and that the cherry blossoms bloomed come and go very briefly, representing the cleanliness and decisiveness in the character of Japanese people. Plum represents Taiwan, with red and white stamens, which is also quite popular in Japan. The director was looking forward to the traditional storytelling competition. Whether cherry blossoms or plum blossoms, the flowers are both full of vigor and enthusiasm.

【Senior Japanese teacher Kazuo Sachiko of Kaohsiung Office of the Taiwan Exchange Association of Japan (first from the right) presented first prize to Zhiping High School for their performance of "Temporary Blooming of Buckwheat Flower"】

President Deng-Maw Lu of Southern Taiwan University of Science and Technology, said that the storytelling competition is not an individual performance; instead, it is meaningful through the division of roles and group cooperation to observe each other’s learning. This activity has always been supported by the funding of the Teaching Excellence Program, which has ended in the year 106. However, even if there is no budget for this meaningful activity, Southern Taiwan University of Science and Technology would continue to support this activity. However, what is exciting is that the school has received a subsidy of more than NT$ 107 million from the Ministry of Education's USR Program in the year of 107. Therefore, in the future, the Japanese Storytelling Competition will not only continue to be supported by the funding of the USR Program but also expand into a greater scale.

【List of winners】

【The 9th Senior High School "Picture Storytelling Competition" invited the President Deng-Maw Lu (second row middle), General Kinzo Nakagun of Kaohsiung Office of the Japan-Taiwan Exchange (second from the second row), teachers and honorable guests to take a phone】