And the winners of the 7th annual Japanese speech contest are...

Two students from North Monterey High and one from Stevenson emerged top three in the 7th annual Monterey County High School Japanese Speech contest:





1st Place: Ray Lantaca (North Salinas High School)
2nd Place: Alejandro Nunez (North Salinas High School)
3rd Place: Evelyn Zhai (Stevenson School)

About 250 guests took part in the March 22 event, which included visitors from Japan who spoke about their experiences with the 2011 Tsunami, Japanese language instructor Yo Azama said. There were 15 contestants from Alisal, Everett Alvarez, Stevenson School, and North Salinas High School.

The 1st place winner will compete at the National Speech Contest at UC Irvine in May. We can't wait to see how far he goes!

Japanese culture at North Salinas High

North Salinas High will celebrate Japanese culture with an speech contest and a presentation by Japanese students regarding the 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

The 7th Annual Monterey County High School Japanese Speech Contest will be held at the North Salinas High School on Friday, March 22, 2013. The event begins at 4:00 P.M. and is open to the public. Twenty high school contestants from local schools will be competing for a chance to attend the National Japanese Speech Contest in Los Angeles in May 2013.

In addition to the competition, there will be cultural entertainment such as Japanese music, dance, and games. The event is free. There will also be a special presentation on the recovery of Tohoku region by Japanese high school students from Miyagi, Japan.

The following day, the students will again share their stories of their experience from the 2011 disaster. The power point presentation will start at 10 a.m. at North Salinas High School in the Multi-Purpose room at 55 Kip Drive on Saturday, March 23 at 10 A.M. An informal panel discussion will follow. The free event is open to public. All questions may be directed to Tomoki Kuwana at 796-7500 or e-mail him at tomoki.kuwana@salinasuhsd.org.

John Steinbeck Library celebrates Hina Matsuri

March 3 is a celebration for Japanese Girl’s called hina-matsuri. People display a set of hina dolls and props in the house, wishing girl’s healthy growth and happiness. Traditionally parents or grandparents of a newborn girl buy a set of gorgeous hina dolls unless they have special dolls, which are inherited from generation to generation. Traditionally, on this day, girls in Japan invite their friends to a home party. A special meal is prepared such as chirashizushi, clam soup and sakura-mochi. Come fold Origami, sing Japanese songs and tasting of Japanese food as we celebrate this special day.

From 4 to 5 pm. Thursday, March 8, at the John Steinbeck Library, 350 Lincoln Av. Salinas

More help for Japan

K-8 students from Stevenson's Carmel campus raised funds by selling handcrafts they made, ranging from jewelry, origami figures, Japanese character prints, pet rocks, sock animals, and decorated pencils. All their items were priced for one dollar, and they raised more than $1,600 in about 30 minutes.
"It was an impressive student-inspired effort, and the kids worked very hard to raise funds for Japan--in a very short amount of time!" said spokeswoman Elena Rhodes Sexton.