Japanese Studies Program @ York University    

  ヨーク大学日本研究科   Open Learning Environment


Japanese Section

Department of Languages, Literatures and Linguistics
Address: 4700 Keele Street, Toronto, Canada, M3J 1P3
Phone: 416-736-5016
Fax:
 416-736-5483
Main Office:
 Ross South 580
Counter Hours:
 8:30 a.m. -  4:30 p.m. (Monday - Friday)

photo of girls in kimono in Kamakura by Norio Ota




















                                         　　「日本語科 にようこそ」
                                  Welcome to the Japanese Studies Program ! 
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

                           Japanese Program at a glance                                      


Event Calendar & Announcement
2025 Ontario Japanese Speech Contest: March 1, 12:30 - 17:15  link
2025  Canadian National Japanese Speech Contest: March 30, 9:30 - 13:30  link (https://www.cajle.ca/activities/japanese-speech-contest/canadian-national-japanese-speech-contest/#toc4)

Highlight
  • York students won the top prizes in the 43rd Ontario Japanese Speech Contest held at University of Toronto on March 1, 2025. Following are the prize winners:
    • Grand Prize (Advanced 1st): Ava-karie Hislop (JP3000)
    • Shinkikai-Sagamihara Award (Intermediate 1st): Cheuk Yen (Cheryl) Leung (JP2000)
    • Beginners 1st: Alex Sarkozi (JP1000)
    • Open 1st: Yuna Wong (JP3000)
    • Consulate-General of Japan Special Prize: Claire Gibson (JP1000)
    • F-File: York Students sweep Ontario Japanese Speech Contest  link
  • A York student was invited to Japan on the Kakehashi Project sponsored by the Japanese government
    • Ariel Upiter
  • Nine students participated in the 38th Ontario Japanese Speech Contest held on February 29, 2020. All of them presented their speeches extremely well and York has five prize winners.
    • Grand prize (Beginners) Lily Feng (jp1000)
    • 3rd prize (Beginners) Mohona Meeftahul (jp1000)
    • 1st prize (Intermediate) Anson Wong (jp2000)
    • Special Effort prize (Intermediate) Divine Domingo (jp2000)
    • Subaru Special prize (Open) Michael Tracey (jp3000)1st
    • Y-File: York students make their mark at Ontario Japanese Speech Contest link
    • YouTube link
  • The three participants of York University won the top prizes at the 31st National Japanese Speech Contest held on line on March 29, 2020. Congratulations!
    • 1st prize (Beginners) Lily Feng
    • 1st prize (intermediate) Anson Wong
    • 2nd prize (Open) Michael Tracey
    • YouTube link
    • F-File link
  • Seven students participated in the 39th Ontario Japanese Speech Contest held on line on March 7, 2021. All of them presented their speeches extremely well and York has six prize winners. Congratulations!
    • Grand Prize: Peter Wenxiang Zang (Intermediate)(jp2000)
    • 1st prize (Beginners): Heshan Wadumasethrige (jp1000)
    • 2nd prize (Beginners): Taek Oh (jp1000)
    • 3rd prize (Beginners): Harmony Newcombe (jp1000)
    • 1st prize (Open): Lilika Zhang (jp3000)
    • Special Prize (advanced): name withheld by request (jp3000)
    • Y-File  link
  • All three York participants won the 1st prize in the National Contest. Congratulations!
    • 1st prize (Beginners): Heshan Wadumasethrige
    • 1st prize (Intermediate): Peter Wenxiang Zang
    • 1st prize (Open): Lilika Zhang
    • Y-File  link
  • Six students participated in the 40th Ontario Japanese Speech Contest held on line on March 6, 2022. All of them won the following top prizes. Congratulations!
    • Grand Prize (Advanced 1st): Hyokyoung Han (jp3000)
    • 1st prize (Beginners): Elvin Yam (jp1000)
    • 2nd prize (Beginners): Janel Acheampong  (jp1000)
    • 2nd prize (Advanced): Shirley Ho (jp3000)
    • Special Prize (Beginners): Keying Ren (jp1000)
    • Special Prize (Intermediate): Harmony Newcombe (jp2000)
    • Y-File  link
  • Japanese Studies professor, Norio Ota, awarded Order of Japan  Y-File link  Consulate link
  • Japanese Studies professor, Norio Ota, awarded the Fumiko Ikawa-Smith Award for life-time service to the Japan Studies Association of Canada (JSAC), October 2022.
  • Eight students participated in the 41st Ontario Japanese held on March 4, 2023. Six of them won the following prizes. Congratulations!
    • Grand Prize (Advanced 1st): name withheld by request (jp3200)
    • 1st prize (Intermediate): Ava-Karie Hislop (jp2000)
    • 2nd prize (Intermediate): Chengsi Ma (jp2000)
    • 3rd prize (Intermediate): Afia Fobi (jp2000)
    • 1st prize (Beginners): Ahmed Arman (jp1000)
    • 2nd prize (Beginners): Maximos Yao (jp1000)
    • Y-File  link
  • York students won big at the 34th National Japanese Speech Contest of Canada held on March 27, 2023. The prize winners are the following. Congratulations!
    • Grand Prize (Advanced): Name withheld by request
    • 1st Prize (Intermediate): Ava-Karie Hislop
    • 3rd Prize (Beginners): Ahmed Arman
    • List of all the prize winners: link
    • Y-File  link
  • York language students work with Japanese writing buddies Y-File  link
  •  DLLL Student Awards 2022-2023@Founders College, October 20, 2023  photo
    Congratulations!
    • Best student in JP1000: Justyn Chai (JP1000)
    • Peter Sato Award 2023: name withheld by request (JP2010)
    • Peter Sato Award 2023: Ava-karie Hislop (JP2000)
    • Peter Sato Award 2023: Arman Ahmed (JP1000)
    • Volunteer: Arianna Carrera (JP3070) 
  • Two York students were selected and invited to Japan on the Kakehashi Project sponsored by the Japanese government
    • Ava-Karie Hislop (jp2000, 2022-23)
    • Maximos Yao (jp2000)
  • York students did well at the 42nd Ontario Japanese Speech Contest held on March 3, 2024. 8 students participated in the contest and all presented excellent speeches. The following are the prize winners. Congratulations!
    • Grand Prize (Advanced): Hei Tung Chloe Shek (jp2010, jp3070)
    • 1st Prize (Open): Wonkyung Lee (jp2000)
    • 3rd Prize (Intermediate): Binying Wan (jp2000)
    • 2nd Prize (Beginners): Secret Shields (jp1000)
    • Y-File  link
  • York students won the top prizes in the 35th National Japanese Speech Contest held at the Embassy of Japan in Ottawa on March 24, 2024. The prize winners are the following. Congratulations!
    • 1st Prize (Advanced) & Mitsui & Co. Award: Hei Tung Chloe Shek
    • 2nd Prize (Open): Wonkyung Lee
    • Y-File  link
                                                    Lectures & Speech
Online lecture: 'Simultaneous interpretation' by Ms. Akiko Shinoda  Nov. 15. 2013  (JF, JSAC & York)   link
She passed away on January 11, 2025. She was one of my long-term friends since 1979 at Monash University, Melbourne, Australia. She was one of the pioneers in the field of simultaneous interpretation.
She is missed very much. - Norio Ota
             
                                                                Articles on Japan
'World’s oldest living person celebrates 117th birthday' - Metro  link

                                                         online picks
Travel - Nara  link
Travel - 'Unbeaten tracks in Japan' by Isabella Bird  link
Kanji - '70% of Kanji vocabulary used in Chinese was created in Japan'  link
Japan-China - surprised in Japan  link  link  link  link
魅力を失う日本〜そして誰もいなくなる link
DNAからみた縄文人ーゲノム分析から見た日本人の起源  link
Living Lonely and Loveless in Japan | Foreign Correspondent  link
Karoshi 'death by overwork' DW  link
Being Japanese part 1 & 2   link
Dying Out of Sight: Hikikomori in an Aging Japan - NHK Documentary    link
Google's AI LaMDA   link
Self-domestication  link
Kurofune  link
2024 Japanese general election  wiki  cjr
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