Universitas Dian Nuswantoro (Udinus) held the 2024 Hikari Champions to encourage high school students to get in touch with Japanese Cultures. This annual competition consisted of four categories with 70 students participating in it.
The 2024 Hikari Champions, which was a part of the 2024 Dinusfest, was themed ‘Yume to Monogatari.’ The event was initiated by an organization known as Hikari, mainly consisting of Japanese Literature Students from Udinus. Two of those four categories were Shodou, or calligraphy competition concerning Japanese kanji, and Supicihi, or speech competition using the Japanese language.
“Meanwhile, we also featured two other categories, namely, Rudoku or storytelling competition using the Japanese language, and Fanart, which involves the participant drawing anything relating to the theme of this event,” Aqmarina Izzati, the head of the committee explained.
Three of those categories were hosted simultaneously on the third floor of the G building. While the Fanart competition was held online. Additionally, the works created by participants were judged by experts in Japanese culture.
The 2024 Hikari Champions served as a tangible step for the campus in enhancing the ability of high school students regarding Japanese cultures. Furthermore, Aqmarina revealed that many high school students had been looking forward to this event annually.
“They were all passionate about participating in this event. Moreover, it could also push their competitive nature and get to know Japanese cultures,” she revealed.
The 2024 Dinusfest itself is a series of competitions hosted by Universitas Dian Nuswantoro (Udinus). As a whole, there were 73 kinds of competitions featured this year. Those 73 competitions primarily consisted of sports, art, and scientific paper competitions. In total, there are 6.129 high school students participating in the 2024 Dinusfest, with several of them coming from Manado, Denpasar, Kendari, Pontianak, Riau, Wamena, Aceh, and various regions in Central Java. (Humas Udinus/Alex. Foto: Humas Udinus)