Japanese Wizards

Back when I was in Maryknoll High School (2018), our Japanese teacher suggested that I and two friends compete in the Japan-America Society of Hawaii’s “Wizards Competition”. We’d later finish in fourth place, beating out 14 other high schools from around the island. The competition itself was a breakneck game of trivia, with us having to answer questions centered around Japanese culture both historical and contemporary before any other of the competing teams. We had maybe two weeks to prepare in total, being assigned various facts about Japan to study and memorize, as well as having to practice our Japanese to pass the language fluidity and correctness segments.

At the time, we were a bunch of eager Sophomores with an affinity for Japanese culture, so the event was right up our alley. Our studies were a mixture of rote memorization, documentary marathons, tasteful viewings of Japanese animation, and speaking in Japanese with our teacher whenever we could. Soon enough, we’d start staying in our Japanese teacher’s classroom late into the afternoon and came by on the weekends for more study sessions. I’d like to think it was a good lesson in crunch-time studying and putting our interests to the test. We may not have came in first, but we did knock the leading team down to second.

For more about the organization behind the competition, see here.