Video Koshien 2015

2015 Video Koshien Winning Videos

Theme:My Culture, My Pride

Japan

Grand Prize & 1st Place:Asaka Kaisei High School (Fukushima)

Outstanding video for both presentation and content. I couldn’t believe the drone shot and the originality of having the camera “bow!” Plus, the content- focusing on one word and showing how it is used and its cultural significance- was great.John R Malott/Former President, Japan-America Society of Washington DC )

I liked that this video showed how a deep value of the Japanese culture “bowing” is expressed in school. The videography was done well, especially showing the view from the person who is bowing. (Marion Friebus-Flaman/TOMODACHI Initiative)

2nd Place:Matsue Commercial High School(Shimane)

I enjoyed watching this video that focused on Japanese food culture. From table manners to fun obento designs, I think it showcased a lot of interesting things for people outside of Japan. (Kyoko Shimomura/ Wife of Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology )

I could see that a lot of creativity went into the format of this video, such as using good and bad table manner examples. They used both video and still images to effectively showcase a lot of information in a short amount of time. (Hideaki Kogo/ Senior Specialist for Curriculum, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology)

U.S.

1st Place:Langley High School(Virginia)

Very sophisticated video of “culture” and very impressive command of Japanese. Everyone seems to have fun in this! (Yuuki Shinomiya/ Former Executive Director of International Student Conferences, Inc., Director of Strategy at Septeni Global)

Good theme and seamless presentation! It had great class participation from many students and very good Japanese pronunciation. (Nick Harling/ Attorney, U.S. Department of Justice; Host of Let’s Talk Japan; Former JET Program Assistant Language Teacher)

2nd Place:Cass Technical High School(Michigan)

It was interesting to see how popular anime and cosplay are and I could see from the video that the students study Japanese very hard. (Kyoko Shimomura/ Wife of Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology )

The photo board video concept was used effectively to present the narrative and showcased Detroit in an interesting way. (Nick Harling/ Attorney, U.S. Department of Justice; Host of Let’s Talk Japan; Former JET Program Assistant Language Teacher)

Judges (in alphabetical order)

Jeffrey Adler U.S. Embassy Tokyo Cultural Affairs Officer
Marion Friebus-Flaman TOMODACHI Initiative
Nick Harling Attorney, U.S. Department of Justice; Host of Let’s Talk Japan; Former JET Program Assistant Language Teacher
Hideaki Kogo Senior Specialist for Curriculum, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology
Ambassador John R. Malott Former President, Japan-America Society of Washington DC
Kyoko Shimomura Wife of Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology
Yuuki Shinomiya Former Executive Director of International Student Conferences, Inc., Director of Strategy at Septeni Global