Under the patronage and attendance of the Assistant Vice President for Academic Support Services for Community Service and Libraries, Prof. Mohammed Dhaim Al-Dhafiri, and His Excellency the Ambassador of Japan Yasunari Morino, the Director of the Community Service and Continuing Education Center Ms. Fatima Khalil Bahman, and the President of the Japanese Society in Kuwait Mr. Sono Tatsuya, the Community Service and Continuing Education Center held the 16th Japanese Speech Competition at the Kuwait National Library.

In this regard, the Assistant Vice President for Academic Support Services for Community Service and Libraries, Prof. Mohammed Dhaim Al-Dhafiri, mentioned that this competition comes as an activation of the role of Kuwait University and the Community Service and Continuing Education Center in cultural and civilizational cooperation with the peoples of the world, specifically the Japanese people with their ancient civilization. He emphasized the university’s keenness to continue these competitions, which serve to connect cultures between peoples, as language is a tool and means to learn about civilizations and not just a means of communication. He wished for students to continue learning languages to benefit from experiences and convey a good image of Kuwaiti society in particular and Arab society in general.

For his part, His Excellency the Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of Japan Yasunari Morino expressed his happiness at the continuation of the speech competition for 16 years, expressing his pride in the number of Kuwaiti students interested in Japan, and praising the efforts made by Kuwait University to harness all capabilities to encourage and support students to learn the Japanese language and culture.

The Director of the Community Service and Continuing Education Center, Ms. Fatima Khalil Bahman, mentioned that the Community Service and Continuing Education Center holds this event annually, and this is the sixteenth year that the Embassy of Japan is keen to continue. She explained the center’s role in providing educational courses in the Japanese language at all levels and encouraging students in this competition to demonstrate their benefit from the courses through topics of their choice in Japanese.

In conclusion, the winners of the competition were selected by a jury consisting of the Assistant Vice President for Academic Support Services Prof. Mohammed Dhaim Al-Dhafiri, the President of the Japanese Society in Kuwait Mr. Sono Tatsuya, the owner of Ki Restaurant Ms. Keiko Motoo, social media influencer Mr. Bader Al-Failakawi, and the Deputy Chief of Mission at the Embassy of Japan in Kuwait Mr. Kaneko Koji. First place was won by student Abdulaziz Al-Shammari for the topic “A Month of My Experience in Japan,” second place went to student Reem Ibrahim for the topic “My Journey in Learning Japanese,” and third place was awarded to student Taiba Ghadban for the topic “Eternal Japan.”