English Speech Contest

Ich freue mich die folgenden Beiträge meiner Freundin Sawako veröffentlichen zu dürfen, mit denen sie 2002 und 2003 am japanischen English Speech Contest teilnahm und jeweils einen achtbaren 2. nationalen Platz belegte.

I'm very glad about publishing the following two speeches held by my friend Sawa during the English Speech Contests 2002 and 2003 in Japan. Both years she won Shimane Prefectural Contest and achieved avery good 2nd place in All-Japan contest.

2002: What I learned in the US

Two years ago, I went to the United States and stayed there for two weeks. I experienced many wonderful things including culture shock. Most of my friends there were younger than me, but for some reason they seemed more mature than me.

I wondered why. That question never left my mind even after I came back to Japan. This summer I had a chance to visit Madison, Indiana for three weeks.

In Indiana, I also made a lot of friends through my host sister, Tara. However, things were different this time.

One night, one of my friends asked me, “Do Japanese people hate American people?” It was a very unexpected question. I answered, “Why?” He said, “Because the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in World War. What do your great grandma and grandparents think of the American people?” I replied, “If they hated Americans, they wouldn’t have let me come here”

A few days later, another friend said to me, “Most Japanese people are Buddhists, aren’t they? How about you?” After she told me a lot about religion in America, she asked, “Do you often go to a temple as we go to a church?” My answer was, “No, just once or so in a year.” And I was at a loss on how to answer her next question, “Why?”

Japanese high school students don’t talk about these issues. I didn’t have answers to these questions and wondered why I lacked an opinion.

In my last week in Madison, we went to an elementary school and joined the classes. In one class, a teacher said to her pupils, “What can you do to make the lives of the people around you better?” “I can do this for my sister.” “I’ll do that for my parents.” “For myself I should …” The children worked very hard and expressed their own ideas.

It was just then that I realized the answer to my lingering question from my previous visit: “Why did my American peers seem more mature than me?” Americans are encouraged to think on their own from childhood and such a class teaches them to become independent.

My American friends seem more mature than me because they are more independent. They always ask, “What do you think?” The most important lesson I learned in the U.S. is to think for myself and form my own opinions.

The next time I go to the U.S., I hope I’ll be a more independent person.