CAS Faculty Judge Japanese Quiz Bowl

Two Western Michigan University faculty from the Department of World Languages and Literatures participated as judges for the 2015 Michigan Japanese Quiz Bowl. Dr. Carlos L. Pimentel and Hikaru Kondo traveled to Eastern Michigan University on March 15, 2015, as teams of junior high and high school students from around the state competed. The quiz competition tests students' knowledge of Japanese language and culture. Teams are broken into five divisions—division 1 consists of elementary learners and division 5 being the most advanced. This year 46 teams from 14 Michigan schools competed. Pimentel and Kondo met Japanese colleagues from Michigan institutions and helped promote WMU's Japanese program.

While this was Pimentel and Kondo's first time participating, WMU has been represented at previous Michigan Japanese Quiz Bowls. Dr. Jeffrey Angles and Dr. Rika Saito, both World Languages and Literatures faculty, have been judges. According to Angles it would be amazing to host this event to help promote "WMU as a major player in Japanese language study," but he acknowledged that the logistics of hosting it would be demanding. WMU will continue to engage with the competition by sending representatives from the Department of World Languages and Literatures to judge the competition and speak with students about the possibility of studying Japanese at WMU.