On March 11th 2017, the al-Farabi Kazakh National University hosted the annual competition of Japanese speech contest, which has been held regularly since 1999.

This contest, organized by the Embassy of Japan in the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kazakhstan Association of Japanese Language Teachers and Al-Farabi KazNU, was dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Kazakhstan and Japan.

    The Association of Japanese in the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Association of Japanese Businessmen in the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kazakhstan-Japan Center for Human Resource Development and the Japan Foundation became sponsors of the contest. Also the University of Tsukuba (Japan), the public organization "Terakoya" and LLP "New & Rare Resources" (Kazakhstan) have provided a big support for the organization of this event.

    After the welcoming speech of the Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of Japan to the Republic of Kazakhstan, Kavabata Ichiro, was announced a minute of silence in memory of the victims of the devastating earthquake that occurred exactly 6 years ago, on March 11, 2011.

Vice-rector of the KazNU at Al-Farabi A.Khikmetov wished all participants good luck and expressed a thank-you speech to the organizers and sponsors.

     A total of 15 participants from Al-Farabi KazNU, The L.N.Gumilyov Eurasian National University, Kazakh Ablai Khan University of International Relations and World Languages ​​and the Kazakhstan-Japan Center for Human Resource Development in Almaty took part in the competition.

    According to the decision of the judges from the Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador Kavabata Ichiro, Chairman of the Association of Japanese in the Republic of Kazakhstan T. Yasuda,

    Chairman of the Association of Japanese Businessmen in the Republic of Kazakhstan N. Arakawa, as well as teachers of the Japanese language, the owner of the main prize - a trip to Japan, was the student of the Kazakhstan-Japan Center for Human Resource Development A.Manova. And the prize-winning places from the 2nd to the 5th were taken by the students of KazNU, namely the students of the Faculty of Oriental Studies, the Department of the Far East M. Umeshova 2-place A.Skatov 3rd place, S. Bekzhanova the 4th place, A.Alimbetova 5th place , M. Bakhytzhan 6-th place, they were awarded junior prizes and diplomas. Participants who took the first 4 places will represent Kazakhstan at the 21st competition of Japanese speech contest in Central Asia, which will be held on April 29 in the Kyrgyz Republic.

    A specifical feature of the competition this year, by suggestion of the Japanese Teachers Association, was a special prize of Batyrkhan Kurmanseyt, representative of the Japan International Friendly Exchange Council (FEC), a teacher of KazNU and PhD in Kazakhstan. Batyrkhan Kurmanseyt, a graduate of the Faculty of Oriental Studies of KazNU named after Al-Farabi, was a judge for the first time this year. In his student years, he actively participated in the competitions of speech contests and repeatedly took first place in competitions in Kazakhstan, Central Asia and Moscow among the CIS countries, and also during the service as a diplomat in Japan he twice won the Japanese speech contest for foreign diplomats. This special prize was awarded to the student of the Faculty of Oriental Studies S. Bekzhanova.