site.btaOratorical contest in Bulgarian Takes Place for First Time in Japan

An oratorical contest in Bulgarian language in Japan took place for the first time in Osaka on December 9, the Bulgarian embassy in Japan, organizer of the event, said on Facebook. The initiative was co-organized by the School of Foreign Studies at the Osaka University with the assistance of the Honorary Consuls of Bulgaria in Japan - Yuzuru Hirano, Hiroshi Munemasa and Kazuo Kawamura. The contest was organized with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan and the Japan-Bulgaria Association.

A total of 19 people from different universities across Japan took part in the competition. The winner was Yuto Ryokawa, a student at the Kobe City University of Foreign Studies, with his topic "Me and Plovdiv".

In recent years, the Kansai region (Osaka, Kobe, Kyoto and Nara), where the oratorical contest was held, has established itself as one of the centres of Bulgarian studies in Japan, the Bulgarian Embassy in Japan also said. Currently, Bulgarian language and Bulgarian-related disciplines are taught at the Kobe City University of Foreign Studies, the School of Foreign Studies at Osaka University, Hokkaido University, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies and Soka University. The number of people studying Bulgarian in Japan now exceeds 70, and the number of students studying Bulgarian-related subjects exceeds 200.