IT'S RIGHT HERE AT HARUMATSURI!

NECTJ President : Kazuo Tsuda

Committee Co-Chairs: Yukiko Wilson & Emi Yamasaki

Participating Schools & Committee Members :

- Bronx Collaborative HS, Emi Yamasaki

- Clarkstown HS: Akiko Uchiyama, Kazuko Saito

- East-West School of Int'l Studies, Yukiko Wilson

- Felix Festa MS, Kazuko Saito

- Forest Hills High School, Natalia Higashide

- High School for Law and Public Service, Kuniko Hall

- LaGuardia Arts HS, Chiaki Rochkind

- Marble Hill School for Int'l Studies, Johanna Yokokawa

- Riverdale Country School, Ayako Ito

- Saint Ann's School, Yasuko Otsue

- The Hudson School, Ritsuko Yokota

- Townsend Harris HS, Mariko Sato

- UNIS: Tatsuki Sakamoto, Masahiro Tanaka

- Valley Stream Central HS, Noriko Koide

- Movement for Language and Culture, Kazuo Tsuda

*Photo: 2019 Harumatsuri Committee

The Harumatsuri Committee also welcomes other teachers of Japanese, their students, and Japan related organizations to join our Harumatsuri. If you would like to bring your students, please contact: Yukiko Wilson  

Japanese teachers from participating schools need to attend preparatory meetings in November and February and preparation on the day before Harumatsuri if the event takes place in person. Please find the schedule below.

Participation fee including a bento box: $20 ~ (please inquire to Yukiko Wilson )

Deadline: Wednesday, January 31, 2024

Performance duration: 5 minutes or less including a set-up and off the stage.

Contents: Must be related to Japan or Japanese culture, performed in Japanese, and appropriate for screening in the school environment: No violence or inappropriate language and acting.

Requirements: Must submit a 30-second demo video of the performance for application and record your performance to be played on the event day.

Submission format: Upload the demo video on YouTube..

Application Form for 2024 Talent Show, Cover Design Contest, and Video Skit Contest

Deadline: Wednesday, January 31, 2024

Criteria:

1. Both Hand Written and Digital Entries are accepted,
2. Sample themes: anime, manga, Japanese culture, spring, food, etc.
3. Format: a JPEG in letter size / portrait orientation.
4. Ensure that the entry is original and in compliance with all the legal and copyright requirements.
5. The design must include all of the following phrases:

- 二〇二四年 or 2024

- NECTJ春祭り

- ニューヨーク or NY

Application Form for 2024 Talent Show, Cover Design Contest, and Video Skit Contest

Deadline: Wednesday, January 31, 2024

Length: 2-5 minutes

Contents: Must be appropriate for screening in the school environment. No violence or inappropriate language and acting. Can be live-action, animated, or voice-over with copyright-free images. Can be a monologue such as rakugo-style.

Requirements: It must include English subtitles. The script must be an original work by students.

Judging Criteria: Satisfaction of the guidelines. Originality & Creativity, Japanese language skills.

Submission format: Upload your video to YouTube.

You can watch the 2016 and 2019 winner's videos here.

Application Form for 2024 Talent Show, Cover Design Contest, and Video Skit Contest

Date: Thursday, April 11 , 2024

Application Deadline: Friday, March 1, 2024

Regional Contest for the All-USA Speech Contest by Aurora Foundation

Purpose:

The purpose of this speech contest is to provide an opportunity for local high school students to learn from each other and deepen their international understanding by presenting the diverse perspectives and new knowledge they have gained through studying the Japanese language and culture.

Content:

Speakers can choose any topic; e.g. "Traditional Culture vs Pop Culture,” “International Relations,” etc.

Past Speech Contest Topics:

You can download the Speech Contest 2021 program here.

Eligibility:

Applicants must be high school students and may NOT:

a) be native speakers of Japanese;

b) have a Japanese parent (Issei), or;

c) have had more than six months of schooling in Japan after age six.

d) These students also may not be the past 1st place winners, and

e) their teachers must be current members of NECTJ.

Any student who places in the top 3 at the NECTJ High School Japanese Speech Contest will be eligible to submit their speeches for consideration to the Aurora Foundation All-USA High School Japanese Speech Contest. However, the winner of the All-USA Contest must be a US citizen or permanent resident to enter the World Speech Contest in Japan.

For more details, see Aurora Foundation's website.

http://www.jlsf-aurora.org/eng

*Date and Venue:

The Northeast Council of Teachers of Japanese (NECTJ) High School Japanese Speech Contest will be held during Harumatsuri on Thursday April 11, 2024

Procedure for Preliminary Selection

Application Deadline: Friday, March 1, 2024

To be considered to be a finalist for the Contest, teachers must submit the Online Application Form on behalf of their students.

👉 2024 Online Application for Speech Contest  

1. Each teacher may apply up to four (4) students. If you have multiple entries, please rank the speeches from your school with the strongest speech as ‘1’ and so forth.

2. Upload student’s typed speech script in Japanese (PDF) with the title:

Student’s full name - Name of your school (teacher’s name)

Ex. John Smith - New York HS (Tanaka)

3. Upload student’s speech file (mp3) ( 5 minutes or less) with the title:

Student full name - Name of your school (teacher’s name)

Ex. John Smith - New York HS (Tanaka)

Selection Procedure:

NECTJ members will judge the speeches and select 6 speeches for the Contest, where contestants will present their speeches remotely via Zoom.

The teachers will be notified of the finalists by the Speech Contest Committee by the end of March 2024.

Click here to see the lyrics and the translation of the song.