JaLaChamp 2025 | Japanese Language Championship for Young Learners UK – Finals Day

The Finals Day of the Japanese Language Championship for Young Learners UK (JaLaChamp) will be held on Saturday 10^th May 2025, at the Hall of Japan House London.

JaLaChamp is a contest for primary and secondary students studying Japanese in the United Kingdom, and this is the third time for the contest to be held. It consists of two categories: a speech category and a video category. On finals day, speech category finalists will give speeches in front of a large audience consists of the panel of judges, teachers, fellow students and their families, on a variety of topics, entirely in Japanese. After speeches, there will be a premiere for short videos created by video category finalists using Japanese (there will be English subtitles). There will be an award ceremony for both Speech and Video categories at the end of the day.

This year, we will welcome Ms Mara Yamauchi, a former elite athlete and diplomat who worked for the Foreign Office, including at the British Embassy in Tokyo, and also achieved sixth place in the 2008 Beijing Olympics women’s marathon, to give a special talk for the event. 

We would like to welcome friends and families of finalists, school members as well as young children who study or are interested in studying Japanese to attend finals day. The event is free but prior registration is required for security purposes. We would appreciate everyone except finalists to book a seat in advance.

Title: Japanese Language Championship for Young Learners UK 2025, Finals Day

Date & Time: Saturday, 10^th May 2025   1pm – 4.30pm (TBC)

Event Schedule (TBC):

     13:00-13:50         Opening and Speech Category finals

                                  Short break

     14:00-14:35          Video Category Secondary School Division 1 & 2 Finals

                                  Short break

     14:45-14:55          Video Category Primary Division Finals

     14:55-15:40          Special Talk and finalist programme

                                  Short break

     15:50-16:30          Award Ceremony

Venue: The Hall of Japan House London (101-111 Kensington High Street, London W8 5SA)

Language: Speeches will be given in Japanese but speech summaries will be made available in English. Student videos have English subtitles.

Please note that finalists should be registered via their teachers of Japanese (Link below is for non-finalists only). If your schedule has changed and you are unable to attend, we would appreciate it if you could cancel the seat by emailing us at speechcontest@jpf.go.jp, as spaces are limited. Young participants under the age of 18 need to be accompanied by an adult. Non-finalist registration will start in early to mid-April.

Book here

Enquiries: speechcontest@jpf.go.jp

Organiser: The Japan Foundation, London

This event is generously supported by (in alphabetical order): Calbee Group (UK) Ltd., E’quipe Japan, Ltd., The Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation, Japan Centre, The Japan Society, JP BOOKS, Lingualift, Mizkan Euro Ltd., Pentel (Stationery) Ltd., Ricoh UK Limited

This event is a contest for primary and secondary school students studying Japanese in the United Kingdom. The aim is to encourage the students to use their Japanese and present one’s thoughts, views, ideas and messages.