Phillips Academy sent nine students studying Japanese to the annual Japan Bowl in Washington D.C. over spring break to compete against 135 schools from across the country and learn about Japanese language, culture, geography and history. The Japan Bowl, sponsored by the Japan-America Society of Washington D.C., is intended to promote the study of Japanese. This is the seventh year PA has sent a team to the competition. The level two team of second-year Japanese students – Marina Kang ’09, Menelik Washington ’09 and Stephanie Yu ’09 – received third place. Alexander McHale ’09, Conrad Bastable ’09 and Chau Tran ’11, the level three team, finished in fourth place, while the level four team – Bryce Frost ’08, Miguel Tavares ’08 and Diana Duan ’08 – placed fifth. Teruyo Shimazu, Instructor in Japanese, accompanied the students on the trip. “Everyone did really fantastic and I believe that the awards are only secondary to what we learn at this event,” she said. “Last year, the day after the Bowl, my students began to prepare for this year’s Bowl, and now this year, my students are already preparing for next year,” Shimazu continued. McHale is one of the students already preparing for next year’s Japan Bowl. To prepare for this year’s competition, he watched Japanese movies with and without English subtitles and “shadowed” the movies, a technique in which he repeated the characters’ dialogue after watching each scene. After passing several rounds, the top three teams, including Phillips Academy, continued on to the championship round. Yu said that, after learning she would be competing in the championship round, “climbing those tall steps up that stage was one of the proudest moments of my life.” Kang said she was very surprised when they were announced to be in second place coming into the championship round. “At the end of the open round competition, I had already accepted that we would not be competing in the top three,” she wrote in an email. She said that she found the final round nerve-wracking at first, but in the end she thought it was fun. Although her team did not win first place this year, it served as motivation for next year’s Japan Bowl, she said. The creator of Sudoku, Maki Kaji, visited the conference and shared inspiration with the students. “[His message was that] we can be inspired by everyday life and that we should keep our eyes out for opportunities,” said Yu. Sho Asano, a renowned Japanese shamisen player, performed for the students during a break in the competition. A shamisen is a Japanese instrument that similar to an upright guitar with three strings. “I’ll admit [his performance] was probably the highlight of my time in D.C.,” wrote Tran. Norman Mineta, a second-generation Japanese and Secretary of Transportation in President Bush’s cabinet, also spoke to students at the competition. Shimazu would have added only one event to the agenda. “The only thing I would like to be different for next year is to attend the National Cherry Blossom festival in D.C.,” she said.
