Did you know that girls in Japan celebrate a festival decorating dolls and displaying them, just like Golu that is celebrated here and that Japanese farmers celebrate a harvest festival similar to Pongal? Did you know that they are ‘grateful’ to their cars and tools, just like Ayudha Pooja? Or that a dragonfly is Thumbi in Tamil and Thombo in Japanese?
It was a warm evening of bonding and friendship as students of the Japanese language interacted with the Consul General of Japan in Chennai, Masanori Nakano at his residence, and enjoyed Japanese delicacies and tea specially prepared by his wife, here recently.
The occasion was a speech contest for students of the Japanese language organised by the Hayakawa Japanese Language School and Cultural Centre. The contestants drew smiles all around for their witty speeches on various aspects of Tamil history and culture. Vedha Narayanasamy, winner in the open category, says that the sentence structure in Japanese is similar to that of Tamil and there are even similar sounding words. For this 21 year old, learning Japanese has been a hobby than an addition to her resume.
SM Shibani Melba, a ninth class student, won the senior category and Rohit, a student of ABK-AOTS Dosokai won the junior category. Most of the contestants of junior category had learnt Japanese for over 3 years. With more Japanese companies looking for candidates, who are proficient in English and Japanese, learning the language would be an added advantage, said the consul General.