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Asahi essay contest winners announced

THE ASAHI SHIMBUN

2008/6/30

English essay competition top prize winner Yifan Zhang sits in the front row, center. Five second prize winners are Mika Tobe, front, left, and Yoko Tochihara, front, right. At rear, from left to right, are: Yukie Takabatake, Hitomi Murai, Go Koushi and Mariko Inui, winner of a "special achievement" award. (LOUIS TEMPLADO/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)

Japan has achieved great levels of technology and the people are warm and polite, but one thing that struck a Chinese exchange student about the country is its "great gender inequality."

This was the theme of Yifan Zhang's essay that won the 100,000 yen first prize in this year's English-language essay writing contest sponsored by The Asahi Shimbun.

In his paper, Zhang, on exchange from Sweden at the Graduate School of Business Administration at Kobe University, urges Japan to eliminate gender inequality to ensure social harmony.

An award ceremony Thursday at The Asahi Shimbun's head office in Tokyo recognized the top performers among the 470 entrants.

Five entrants shared second place, receiving prizes of 50,000 yen each. They are: Yukie Takabatake of New York University; Yoko Tochihara of Seinan Gakuin University; Mika Tobe of Showa Women's University; Hitomi Murai of Aichi Prefectural University; and Go Koushi of Takushoku University.

A "special achievement" award was given to Mariko Inui, 57, a student at Kwansei Gakuin University, for her essay proposing reforms to let senior citizens who want to work get involved in welfare services for young people with disabilities and their families.

Letters of thanks were also presented to five schools in recognition of the large number of entries they submitted. They are: Toyo Eiwa University; Takushoku University; the University of Kitakyushu; Seinan Gakuin University and Osaka Christian College. (IHT/Asahi: July 25,2008)