JaLaChamp Japanese Language Championship for Young Learners UK 2025 Finals Day

The Finals Day of the Japanese Language Championship for Young Learners UK (JaLaChamp) 2025 was held in the hall of Japan House London, on Saturday 10th May 2025.

JaLaChamp is a contest for primary and secondary school students studying Japanese, either in a formal school setting or privately. It consists of two categories: a speech category, for secondary school students studying Japanese as a foreign language, and a video category, which is open to primary and secondary school students studying Japanese, including those who have previously stayed in Japan and those who speak Japanese at home. In the speech category, finalists gave speeches on the topic of their choice and each speech was followed by the Q&A session. In the video category, finalists (individual or group) created an original video based on the theme provided using their Japanese skills. On finals day, shortlisted videos were played at a large screen in front of a large audience.

The first category of the day was the Speech Category, and our four brilliant speech category finalists delivered their speeches in front of a live audience and a panel of judges. Finalists spoke on a variety of topics such as the issue of over tourism in Japan and the appeal of Shogi, a Japanese two-player strategy board game.

First place in this category was awarded to Sebastian Pabst, a Year 12 student at Whitgift School for his speech entitled: “Japanese food culture teaches health and sustainability / 日本の食文化は健康と持続可能性を教える”. Citing that Washoku, Traditional Dietary Culture of the Japanese, was listed as an UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage, Sebastian introduced several traditional concepts related to Japanese food culture, such as ‘eating everything without leaving any leftovers’, ‘using all parts of food (e.g. fish)’ and ‘cooking using local and seasonal ingredients’. He emphasised the vital role of schools in Japan in teaching children about balanced diets and sustainability through school lunches (i.e. using vegetables grown in their school or from local farmers and recycling milk cartons).

Second place went to Gavin Cheng, a Year 12 student at Hockerill Anglo-European College for his speech entitled: “Good Doctor vs Bad Doctor: What is the difference? / 良い医者と悪い医者：違いはなんですか？”. Gavin’s speech explained what makes doctors “good”, using several concepts commonly used in Japan such as sincerity (seii), doing one’s best (ganbaru), and consideration (omoiyari) with good examples.  

After the Speech Category, we had the Video Category finals. The video category was divided by age (secondary school and primary school), and the secondary school division was split further into two according to Japanese language ability.

The first videos to be shown were the seven videos in Secondary School Division 1 (theme: “Something I/We Want to Try / 私（たち）がやってみたいこと”). Finalists in this category have a Japanese level of A1-A2 (JF Standard for Japanese-language education/CEFR). All seven videos were ambitious in scope and with good messages and sometimes humours to engage with the audience.

First place was won by Tomei Tomatoes, a group of two students, for their video “We Want to Try Being Invisible/ 透明人間になってみたい！”.  Second place went to Kira-kira boshi (Twinkle stars), a group of five students from Aquinas College, for their video “Weekend Wishes”.

Next was Secondary School Division 2, where finalists have a Japanese level of B1 (JF Standard for Japanese-language education/CEFR). The theme for their videos was “What I/We Can Learn from the Past / 私（たち）が過去から学べること”. First place was won by Timothy Pooley from James Gillespie’s High School, for his video “ぼくはもうやらないこと / Things that I won’t be doing anymore”.

After the videos from secondary school students, videos from the Primary School Division (theme: “My/Our Favourite Place / 私（たち）の好きな場所”) were shown on a large screen. Finalists in this category have a Japanese level of A1-A2 (JF standard for Japanese-language Education/CEFR). There were five videos in this division and the audience was introduced to each finalist/ finalist group’s favourite places, including London Zoo and a school Lunchtime Japanese Club!

A Special Talk by Ms Mara Yamauchi, a former elite athlete and diplomat who worked for the Foreign Office, including at the British Embassy in Tokyo, was scheduled following the finalists’ videos, but unfortunately Ms Yamauchi was unable to join us on the day. We screened a special video message she kindly made for the participants, and then Mr Shin-ichi Tanaka, Director of the Japan Foundation London, talked about his experiences running the 2024 Berlin Marathon and the 2025 London Marathon. Mr Tanaka spoke about the fun of running as well as the importance of hard work and continuity.

During the Finalist Connection Programme, finalists of various age and different levels of Japanese shared their experiences of learning Japanese. We hope all finalists had a chance to learn from other finalists who studies Japanese.

The award ceremony was held at the end of the day and all of our finalists (both those who placed and runners-up) were awarded with prizes, many of which were provided by our generous sponsors. Taking this opportunity, we sincerely thank all of our finalists who have worked so hard to reach Finals Day, and their families and teachers who supported them. It was great to see many young learners and we look forward to welcoming many of you at the next JaLaChamp.

List of Awards

Speech Category

• First Place: Sebastian Pabst (Whitgift School)
• Second Place: Gavin Cheng (Hockerill Anglo-European College)
• Runners-Up: Ermal Lisha (Hockerill Anglo-European College); Max Woodley (Whitgift School)

Video Category – Secondary School Division 1

• First Place: Tomei tomatoes – Lisa Egawa (Drayton Manor High School) and Emi Gutch (Elthrone Park High School)
• Second Place: Kira-kira boshi – Niamh, Sophie, Alexa, Beth, Hannah (Aquinas College)
• Runners-Up: SalmonSensation – Thomas Lee, Zachary Oz-Collins, Sam Todd (The Gryphon School – learning Japanese at Sherborne Girls); BAAM – Ben, Anton, Ayden, Minghao (Dartford Grammar School); Ryan Cheng (Whitgift School); Victor Richards (University College School); The Hamilton – Wright Co – Lochlann Hamilton, Ernest Wright (Whitgift School)

Video Category – Secondary School Division 2

• First Place: Timothy Pooley (James Gillespie’s High School)
• Runners-Up: Sannin-gumi – Sofia Shibata, Leonard Nakamura, Ayla Murase (Kotoba no Kakehashi), Nina Allen (NIHONGOSCHOOL/ The BRIT School)

Video Category – Primary School Division

• The Nice Cooperation Award:  Maple Walk School Japanese Club (Maple Walk School)
• The Magical Teleporters Award: Luisa Andras (Blackthorns Community Primary Academy)
• The Warm Memories Award: SUN3RISE – Nanami Ikeya, Saya Gutch, Mao Catterall (The Japanese Saturday School in London)
• The London Animal Ambassador Award: Aubin & Zavi (Devonshire House School, London)
• The Learning Achievement Award: Lunchtime Japanese Club (Blackthorns Community Primary Academy) 

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Download the JaLaChamp 2025 programme

View photos from JaLaChamp 2025 Finals Day 

View videos from JaLaChamp 2025 Finals Day

We would like to thank our judges, interlocutor, special guest, and venue staff for all of their invaluable assistance in helping us to hold this event. This event would also not have been possible without the support of our generous sponsors: